INFORMATION  REGARDING 

Progress  Under  the  Land 
Settlement  Act 


347 

OF  THE 


State  of  California 


AND  ABOUT  THE 


Plans  for  Soldier  Settlement 
in  the  Future 


Published  by  Authority  of  the 

State/ Land  Settlement  Board 
May  30,  1919 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  PRINTING  OFFICE 

SACRAifENTO 

1919 


INFORMATION  REGARDING 

Progress  Under  the  Land 
Settlement  Act 


OF  THE 


State  of  California 


AND   ABOUT  THE 


Plans  for  Soldier  Settlement 
in  the  Future 


Published  by  Authority  of  the 

State  Land  Settlement  Board 
May  30,  1919 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  PRINTING  OFFICE 

SACRAMENTO 

1919 


46390 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL. 

To  His  Excellency,  WM.  D.  STEPHENS,  Governor, 

State  Capitol,  Sacramento,  California. 

The  numerous  inquiries  received  by  the  State  Land  Settlement  Board, 
asking  for  information  contained  in  this  statement,  we  believe,  war- 
rants its  publication  and  distribution  by  the  state. 

Respectfully, 

ELWOOD  MEAD,  Chairman. 
MORTIMER  FLEISHHACKER. 
PRESCOTT  F.  COGSWELL. 
FRANK  P.  FLINT. 
E.  S.  WANGENHEIM. 


2-46390 


General   view   of    farms    and    farm    laborers'    allotments    on    a    portion   of   the 
Durham    Land    Settlement,    Durham,    California. 


THE  CALIFORNIA  STATE  LAND 
SETTLEMENT  ACT. 


WHAT  HAS  BEEN  DONE  AND  PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

INTRODUCTION. 

So  many  wish  to  know  about  the  progress  of  the  California  State 
Land  Settlement  at  Durham  and  about  the  plans  for  future  colonies 
that  adequate  replies  to  inquiries  can  not  be  made  by  letters.  The 
statement  which  follows  will,  it  is  hoped,  give  the  facts  which  most  of 
those  interested  desire. 

The  State  Land  Settlement  Act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  of 
1917.*  It  was  to  be  a  demonstration  of  what  could  be  done  by  planned 
rural  development,  adequately  financed,  and  to  show  how  people  of 
small  means  could  be  helped  by  the  state  to  secure  farms  and  rural 
homes  without  this  aid  becoming  a  burden  to  the  taxpayer. 

THE  FIRST  STATE  SETTLEMENT. 

The  board  to  administer  this  act  was  appointed  in  August,  1917.  It 
Avas  authorized  to  buy,  improve  and  sell  to  settlers  10,000  acres  of  land, 
and  in  order  to  do  this  invited  offers  of  land.  Out  of  forty  tracts 
submitted,  two,  having  a  total  area  of  6,219  acres,  located  in  Butte 
County  near  Chico  in  the  Sacramento  Valley,  were  bought.  This 
land,  now  known  as  the  home  of  the  Durham  Settlement,  was  partly 
under  cultivation,  had  water  rights  from  Butte  Creek  and  a  rudimentary 
ditch  system. 

The  cost  of  the  land,  which  could  be  irrigated,  was  $100  per  acre. 
The  cost  of  land  above  the  ditch  (about  700  acres)  was  $10  per  acre. 

MAKING  THE  LAND  READY  FOR  SETTLEMENT. 

It  was  the  belief  of  those  who  favored  this  law,  and  of  the  Land 
Settlement  Board,  that,  if  the  ability  and  experience  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural College  and  other  state  agencies  could  be  put  to  work  to  create 
the  conditions  needed  for  making  farm  life  attractive,  to  fix  the  size  of 
tarnis,  the  kind  of  crops  to  be  grown  and  of  stock  to  be  raised,  and  to 
l:nit  these  settlers  together  at  the  outset  into  business  and  social  arrange- 
ments needed  to  overcome  the  obstacles  that  must  confront  them,  the 
results  would  be  far  better  than  could  be  hoped  for  in  an  unplanned 


*Senate  Bill  No.  584,  Chapter  755.  An  act  creating  a  state  land  settlement  board 
and  defining  its  powers  and  duties  and  making  an  appropriation  in  aid  of  its  opera- 
tions. Approved  June  1,  1917. 


development.  The  first  thing,  therefore,  was  to  enlist  the  help  and 
co-operation  of  the  state's  experts  in  this  task.  As  the  land  had  to  be 
irrigated,  the  water  right  was  as  important  as  the  title  to  land.  A 
water  right  litigation  of  five  years'  standing  on  Butte  Creek  was  settled 
by  inducing  all  holders  of  rights  to  agree  as  to  their  respective  interests, 
and  have  this  agreement  entered  as  a  decree  by  the  court.  In  this  the 
aid  of  the  Attorney  General  was  freely  given  and  was  of  great  value. 

The  sanitary  experts  of  the  University  recommended  that  a  mosquito 
abatement  district  be  created  as  the  surest  way  to  prevent  malarial 
trouble.  The  Butte  County  Supervisors  did  this,  fixing  its  boundaries 
to  include  not  only  the  colony  lands,  but  a  large  surrounding  area. 
Plans  were  made  for  wells  to  provide  an  adequate  supply  of  pure 
\\ater  for  household  and  drinking  purposes.  The  statistical  expert  of 
the  Prudential  Life  Insurance  Company,  after  a  visit  to  the  settlement, 
said  "that  the  preliminary  arrangements  to  insure  the  health  of  its 
people  were  the  most  enlightened  and  efficient  of  which  he  had  any 
knowledge. '  '* 

The  soil  experts  of  the  university  made  a  soil  survoy  and  prepared  a 
soil  map  which  was  used  in  determining  the  sizes  and  selling  prices  of 
farms.  The  professors  of  Animal  Husbandry  and  Agronomy  helped 
work  out  the  agriculture  best  suited  to  the  locality.  The  drainage  and 
irrigation  works  were  planned  by  the  engineers  of  the  Office  of  Public 
Roads  and  Rural  Engineering  of  the  Federal  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture, and  the  designs  for  houses  and  farm  buildings  were  made  in  part 

*In  no  other  state,  therefore,  it  would  seem,  are  the  conditions  more  ideal  than  in 
California  to  justify  the  undertaking  of  a  thoroughly  reorganized  state  health  admin- 
istration on  the  basis  of  new  principles  and  inclusive  of  new  functions  essential  to 
the  attainment  of  decidedly  better  results.  No  state  is  more  progressive  and  more 
willing  to  meet  the  required  expense  to  attain  the  highest  ideals  in  the  proper  sphere 
and  function  of  every  branch  of  the  state  government.  California  has  three  great 
universities,  adequate  medical  schools  and  clinical  facilities,  and  numerous  well- 
managed  public  Institutions,  all  useful  for  the  purpose  of  sustaining  a  thoroughly  well- 
worked-out  plan  for  a  modernized  health  administration  such  as  is  here  proposed. 

How  much  has  been  achieved  within  a  comparatively  short  period  of  time  is  best 
illustrated  by  the  gratifying  success  of  the  State  Land  Colony  at  Durham,  which  in 
practically  all  the  details  of  its  administration  rests  upon  the  scientific  advisory  assist- 
ance of  the  University  of  California.  This  work  which  has  been  carried  forward  to 
such  a  successful  termination  by  Prof.  Elwood  Mead,  the  distinguished  authority  on 
irrigation,  gives  every  promise  of  serving  as  a  model  to  other  sections  of  the  country, 
even  though  the  plan  may  not  prove  feasible  of  universal  adoption.  What  has  thus 
been  achieved  in  the  realm  of  agriculture  should  be  equally  possible  In  connection 
with  efforts  to  improve  health  and  physical  well-being.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
executive  officers  of  the  State  Land  Colony  will  see  their  way  clear  to  initiate  a 
practical  method  of  health  supervision,  including  physical  examinations,  medical 
assistance  and  institutional  treatment  in  conformity  to  all  the  knowledge  available 
on  these  subjects  at  the  present  time.  If  this  suggestion  could  be  adopted,  the 
State  Land  Colony  would  only  carry  into  further  practical  execution  the  method 
so  successfully  worked  out  in  behalf  of  the  students  of  the  University  of  California, 
who  for  more  than  six  years  past  have  been  under  qualified  medical  supervision, 
which  has  been  provided  for  at  minimum  expense,  and  without  the  pretense  of 
social  Insurance,  including  all  that  must  be  considered  essential  to  reasonable  medical 
or  surgical  needs. — [Extract  from  "A  Plan  for  a  More  Effective  Federal  and  State 
Health  Administration,"  by  Frederick  L.  Hoffman,  LL.D.,  Statistician  The  Prudential 
Insurance  Company  of  America.] 


by  a  farmstead  engineer  employed  by  the  board  and  in  part  by  the 
Architectural  Bureau  of  the  California  State  Engineer's  office. 

The  scheme  of  accounting  and  the  forms  to  be  used  were  prepared  by 
the  State  Board  of  Control  and  the  numerous  forms  of  contracts 
required  in  the  sales  of  land  and  water  rights  to  settlers  and  in  loaning 
them  money  to  improve  and  equip  their  farms  were  prepared  by  the 
Attorney  General.  In  other  words,  state  and  federal  officials  who  had 
for  years  been  dealing  with  different  features  of  rural  life,  and  thereby 
accumulating  a  practical  knowledge  of  its  needs,  here  worked  together 
to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  civilization  these  coming  settlers  would 
create.* 

In  making  the  soil  map,  samples  were  taken  at  such  intervals  as  was 
necessary  to  make  an  accurate  map  of  the  whole  area.  With  this  in 
hand  the  sizes  of  the  farms  were  determined  so  as  to  give  considerable 
choice  to  intending  settlers,  keeping  each  farm  within  such  limits  that 
one  family  with  one  farm  hand  could  take  care  of  it.  As  a  consequence, 
the  farms  suited  to  fruit  growing  are  small,  while  the  lands  suited  to 
farm  crops  were  laid  out  in  rather  large  units,  running  as  high  as  160 
acres.  In  some  cases  a  tract  of  grain  land  went  with  a  small  tract  of 
fruit  land,  say  15  or  20  acres,  the  two  tracts  sometimes  not  being 
contiguous. 

HOMES  FOR  WAGE  EARNERS. 

In  order  to  do  the  work  and  meet  all  the  needs  of  a  rural  neighbor- 
hood, something  more  than  farms  and  farm  owners  are  needed.  There 
is  need  for  a  local  blacksmith  shop,  for  a  carpenter.  Not  all  men  who 
like  to  work  on  farms  care  for  the  risk  and  worry  of  ownership.  Some 
prefer  to  work  for  wages.  There  are  kinds  of  farm  work  where  two 
men  working  together  can  do  more  in  one  day  than  one  man  working 
alone  could  do  in  three  days.  There  is  therefore  the  same  need  for 
wage  earners  in  farming  that  there  is  in  other  industries  and  a  greater 
need  for  looking  after  the  welfare  and  comfort  of  this  class.  This  fact 
was  realized  in  making  the  plans  for  Durham. 

The  greatest  need  of  the  married  farm  worker  is  to  have  a  comfort- 
able dwelling  with  ground  for  a  garden.  To  provide  these,  26  areas  of 
two  acres  or  less  were  located  in  three  groups  at  separate  but  con- 
venient parts  of  the  settlement.  On  these  small  tracts  wage  earners 
could  build  a  house,  grow  most  of  the  vegetables  needed  for  their  table, 
could  keep  a  cow  and  chickens,  and,  because  it  was  their  own,  it  would 


*The  following  assisted  in  working  out  the  plans  for  Durham  and  for  carrying  the 
State  Land  Settlement  Act  into  effect:  University  of  California,  Professors  Chas.  F. 
ShaW  (Division  of  Soil  Technology),  W.  B.  Herms  (Professor  of  Parasitology), 
Gordon  H.  True  (Division  of  Animal  Husbandry),  Frank  Adams  (Irrigation  Investiga- 
tions);  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Mr.  Milo  B.  Williams;  State  Engineering 
Department,  Mr.  W.  E.  Backus;  State  Board  of  Control,  Mr.  W.  B.  Draper,  account- 
ant; Mr.  Frank  English,  Deputy  Attorney  General  of  the  state  of  California. 

4—46300 


give  to  the  family  a  sense  of  pride  and  independence  which  would  be 
of  great  value  in  shaping  the  character  of  the  children  who  lived  there, 
and  in  making  the  whole  household  contented  and  prosperous. 


These  farm  workers'  homes  were  to  be  sold  to  those  who  lacked  the 
money  or  desire  to  become  farm  owners  on  the  same  conditions  as  the 
farms. 

The  map,  Plat  (1),  shows  the  sizes  and  location  of  farms  and  farm 
workers'  homes.  Plat  (2)  is  the  soil  map  which  explains  the  relation 
of  the  variations  in  soil  to  the  size  of  farms. 


CONDITIONS  OF  SETTLEMENT. 

The  Land  Settlement  Act  contains  the  following  general  conditions : 

Land  must  be  sold  either  as  farm  allotments,  each  of  which  may  have 

a  value  not  exceeding,  without  improvements,  fifteen  thousand  ($15,000) 

dollars,  or  as  farm  laborers '  allotments,  each  of  which  may  have  a  value 

not  exceeding,  without  improvements,  four  hundred  ($400)  dollars. 


APPENDIX  3. 


Applicants  must  be  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  have  declared 
their  intention  to  become  citizens. 

The  State  Land  Settlement  Board  reserves  the  right  to  reject  any  or 
all  applications  it  may  see  fit  to  reject. 

No  more  than  one  farm  allotment  or  farm  laborers'  allotment  shall 
be  sold  to  any  one  person. 


—  10  — 

Settlers  make  a  cash  payment  on  land  of  5  per  cent  and  can  have  up 
to  40  years  to  complete  the  payments.  They  may  obtain  a  loan  of 
GO  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  houses  and  other  permanent  improvements 
and  can  have  20  years  in  which  to  repay  this  loan.  The  loans  for  all 
improvements  and  equipment  can  not  exceed  $3,000.  The  repayment 
of  loans,  which  may  be  made  by  the  board,  on  live  stock  or  implements, 
may  extend  over  a  period  of  five  (5)  years. 

Every  contract  entered  into  between  the  board  and  an  approved 
purchaser  shall  contain,  among  other  things,  provisions  that  the  pur- 
chaser shall  cultivate  the  land  in  a  manner  to  be  approved  by  the  board 
and  shall  keep  in  good  order  and  repair  all  buildings,  fences  and  other 
permanent  improvements  situated  on  his  allotment,  reasonable  wear 
and  tear  and  damage  by  fire  excepted. 

Each  settler  shall,  if  required,  insure  and  keep  insured  against  fire 
all  buildings  on  his  allotment,  the  policies  therefor  to  be  made  out  in 
favor  of  the  board,  and  to  be  such  amount  or  amounts  and  in  such 
insurance  companies  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  board. 

No  allotment  sold  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  transferred, 
assigned,  mortgaged  or  sublet,  in  whole  or  in  part,  within  five  (5)  years 
after  the  date  of  such  contract,  without  the  consent  of  the  board  given 
in  writing. 

At  the  expiration  of  five  (5)  years  after  the  purchase  of  an  allotment, 
if  the  board  is  satisfied  that  all  covenants  and  conditions  of  the  contract 
covering  such  allotment  purchase  have  been  complied  with,  the  pur- 
chaser may,  with  the  written  consent  of  the  board,  transfer,  assign, 
mortgage,  sublet,  or  part  with  the  possession  of  the  whole  or  any  part 
of  the  allotment  covered  by  such  contract,  but  the  purchaser  must 
comply  with  the  residence  requirement  of  the  act. 

In  the  event  of  a  failure  of  the  settler  to  comply  with  any  of  the 
terms  of  his  contract  of  purchase  and  agreement  with  the  board,  the 
state  and  the  board  shall  have  the  right  at  its  option  to  cancel  the  said 
contract  of  purchase  and  agreement,  and  thereupon  shall  be  released 
from  all  obligation  in  law  or  equity  to  convey  the  property,  and  the 
settler  shall  forfeit  all  right  thereto,  and  all  payments  theretofore  made 
shall  be  deemed  to  be  rental  paid  for  occupancy. 

The  failure  of  the  board  or  the  state  to  exercise  any  option  to  cancel 
for  any  default  shall  not  be  deemed  as  a  waiver  of  the  right  to  exercise 
the  option  to  cancel  for  any  default  thereafter  on  the  settler's  part. 

No  forfeiture  occasioned  by  default  on  the  part  of  the  settler  shall 
be  deemed  in  any  way,  or  to  any  extent,  to  impair  the  lien  and  security 
of  the  mortgage  or  trust  instrument  securing  any  loan  that  the  board 
may  have  made  as  in  the  Land  Settlement  Act  provided. 


—  11  — 

The  board  shall  have  the  right  and  power  to  enter  into  a  contract  of 
purchase  for  the  sale  and  disposition  of  any  land  forfeited,  because  of 
default  on  the  part  of  a  settler. 

Actual  residence  on  any  allotment  sold  shall  commence  within  six  (6) 
months  from  the  date  of  the  approval  of  the  application,  and  shall 
continue  for  at  least  eight  (8)  months  in  each  calendar  year  for  at 
least  ten  (10)  years  from  the  date  of  the  approval  of  the  said  applica- 
tion, unless  prevented  by  illness  or  some  other  cause  satisfactory  to  the 
board;  provided,  that  in  case  any  farm  allotment  disposed  of  is  resold 
by  the  state,  the  time  of  residence  of  the  preceding  purchaser  may,  in 
the  discretion  of  the  board,  be  credited  to  the  subsequent  purchaser. 
(Without  this  clause  there  would  be  a  temptation  for  settlers  to  sell 
their  holdings  as  soon  as  development  began  to  increase  values.  It 
would  also  be  more  difficult  to  prevent  farms  being  filed  on  by  dummy 
agents  of  speculators.) 

The  prices  of  land,  in  each  farm,  were  fixed  with  due  consideration 
to  all  influencing  factors,  such  as  character  of  soil,  roughness,  accessi- 
bility, etc.,  the  character  of  the  soil  being  the  chief  reason  for  variation 
in  price,  the  soil  survey  disclosing  the  fact  that  practically  no  two  tracts 
were  exactly  alike.  The  total  price  of  farm  units  ranged  from  $3,600 
to  $15,000,  the  average  selling  price  being  $150  per  acre.  This  increase 
over  the  purchase  price  covers  the  administration  expenses,  cost  of 
roads,  irrigation  improvements,  etc.  The  terms  of  purchase  were  5  per 
cent  down  and  5  per  cent  interest  on  the  unpaid  balance.  To  the 
interest  was  added  a  3  per  cent  annual  payment  on  the  principal, 
making  8  per  cent  a  year,  which  pays  for  the  farm  in  20  years.  Amor- 
tizing the  payments  lessens  the  heavy  burden  of  the  higher  interest 
amounts  in  the  earlier  years. 

Where  improvements  had  been  made  on  the  property,  when  sold  to 
settlers,  a  cash  payment  of  40  per  cent  of  the  value  of  these  improve- 
ments was  required ;  the  balance  to  be  paid  in  half-yearly  installments 
extending  over  20  years.  On  both  land  and  improvements  settlers 
might  make  a  larger  initial  payment,  or  might  pay  off  more  than  one 
installment  on  any  interest  date  after  five  years. 

LEASES  CAUSED  LAND  TO  BE  SETTLED  AT  DIFFERENT  DATES. 

When  purchased,  a  portion  of  the  land  was  leased  for  one  year  and 
this  portion  could  not  be  subdivided  and  sold  until  this  lease  expired, 
which  was  in  September,  1918.  There  was  also  a  four  years'  lease  on 
320  acres  which  will  be  subdivided  and  sold  at  the  expiration  of  this 
lease.  About  3,500  acres  were  available  for  immediate  settlement.  This 


—  12  — 

area  was  subdivided  into  52  farms  and  21  farm  laborers'  allotments 
and  offered  to  settlers  in  May,  1918. 

When  the  September  lease  had  expired,  these  lands  were  subdivided 
into  27  farms  and  5  farm  laborers'  allotments.  This  was  opened  to 
settlement  in  November.  All  these  allotments  have  been  sold  and  set- 
tled; 700  acres  of  pasture  land  and  320  acres  of  farm  land  are  still  to 
be  dealt  with. 

PREPARING  FARMS  FOR  SETTLERS. 

Between  January  1,  1918,  when  negotiations  for  the  land  were  begun, 
and  June,  when  the  farms  of  the  first  unit  were  sold  to  settlers,  the  land 
was  subdivided  and  as  far  as  possible  made  ready  for  irrigation,  and  a 
large  area  was  seeded  to  crops.  Owing  to  war  conditions  it  was  hard 
to  obtain  teams,  but  on  a  majority  of  the  farms  all  of  the  land  or  a  very 
considerable  portion  had  crops  growing  from  which  the  settler  obtained 
a  harvest  a  few  weeks  or  months  after  taking  possession. 

The  settlers  paid  the  state  all  the  expenses  of  planting  grain  crops, 
except  in  a  few  cases  where  the  settler  took  possession  after  the  crop 
was  harvested.  The  profit  to  the  board  from  these  crops  was  over 
$2,000.  A  similar  course  was  followed  with  the  second  area  thrown 
open  in  November,  where  1,700  acres  had  been  seeded  to  grain. 

The  ditching  and  leveling  of  land  for  irrigation  were  treated  as  per- 
manent improvements  and  the  settler  paid  40  per  cent  of  the  cost.  This 
payment  was  made  on  all  areas  prepared  for  and  seeded  to  alfalfa. 

Great  care  was  taken  in  valuing  the  different  farms  in  order  to  make 
them  equally  attractive  and,  although  the  price  of  the  different  lands 
varied  from  $48  to  $235  per  acre,  so  well  had  the  various  factors  been 
balanced,  that  each  farm  offered  tvas  the  first  choice  of  some  applicant. 

SELECTION   OF  SETTLERS. 

Intending  settlers  were  asked  to  fill  out  a  blank  form  which  would 
give  a  record  of  their  experience  and  capital  and  give  an  outline  of 
what  they  planned  to  do  if  their  application  was  approved.  These 
statements  of  plans  were  valuable  because  they  indicated  the  applicant 's 
judgment  and  experience.  When  there  were  several  applicants  for  a 
single  farm,  they  were  asked  to  appear  before  the  board.  The  board 
by  questions  and  by  talking  with  the  different  applicants  was  always 
able  to  reach  a  conclusion  as  to  who  was  most  deserving  or  best  qualified. 

The  board  faced  a  harder  task  when  it  came  to  deciding  between  the 
applicants  for  the  farm  workers'  homes.  There  was  some  doubt  as  to 
the  use  a  single  man  would  have  for  such  an  area.  It  was  believed 


iq  _ 

I  •  ' 

these  homes  would  be  worth  far  more  to  the  married  worker  who  had  a 
family  than  to  unmarried  men,  unless  it  was  to  enable  them  to  marry. 
Other  things  being  equal,  applicants  with  families  were  chosen.  There 
were  also  a  number  of  applicants  for  these  small  areas  who  were  not 
farm  workers  and  did  not  intend  to  work  on  farms  for  wages.  Mainly 
this  class  was  made  up  of  people  who  had  a  small  income.  They  liked 
the  easy  payments  and  the  prospect  of  securing  at  small  cost  a  com- 
iortable  home  in  a  progressive  neighborhood.  These  homes  made  a 
special  appeal  to  these  lovers  of  rural  life  because  the  surroundings  of 
Durham  are  very  attractive.  On  the  east  there  is  a  lovely  mountain 
background  with  Mount  Lassen  in  the  distance ;  on  the  west  the  almond 
and  prune  orchards  stretch  away  for  miles.  On  two  acres  of  land  they 
could  have  a  poultry  farm  or  a  market  garden,  and  if  they  had  a  small 
fixed  income,  they  could  lead  a  pleasant  care-free  and  comfortable  life. 
These  applicants  were,  as  a  rule,  educated,  earnest  people  who  would 
be  a  valuable  addition  to  the  social  life  of  the  colony,  but  they  were  not 
the  kind  of  farm  workers  for  whom  these  areas  were  intended. 

The  number  of  applications  of  this  character  showed  there  is  need 
for  areas  between  the  farm  and  the  wage  earners'  home,  but  provision 
had  not  been  made  for  this  class.  Some  of  the  2-acre  blocks  were  sold 
to  settlers  who  would  have  preferred  5  to  10  acres.  In  1919  the  law  was 
amended  to  permit  farm  workers'  areas  having  a  value  of  $1,000. 

HELPING  SETTLERS  FORM  A  CO-OPERATIVE  RURAL 
COMMUNITY. 

This  act  does  not  end,  as  many  suppose  it  does,  with  buying  land, 
selling  it  to  settlers  on  favorable  terms,  and  then  leaving  them  to  shift 
for  themselves.  If  it  did  it  would  be  a  failure.  The  most  important 
work  of  the  board  comes  after  the  settlers  have  selected  their  farms 
and  begin  the  long  and  arduous  task  of  earning  the  money  to  improve, 
equip  and  pay  for  the  home.  These  settlers  need  to  know  each  other, 
to  be  helped  in  forming  co-operative  buying  and  selling  associations. 
Doing  these  things  soon  leads  to  the  creation  of  a  strong  community 
spirit.  The  settlers  are  soon  welded  together  by  a  desire  to  foster  public 
as  well  as  private  ends.  Nothing  has  made  so  favorable  an  impression 
on  those  who  have  watched  the  growth  of  this  colony  as  the  strength  of 
the  community  spirit  and  the  manner  in  which  its  creation  has  helped 
settlers  overcome  the  obstacles  which  lack  of  capital  always  presents. 


—  14  — 

SOME  OF  THE  DISTINCTIVE  FEATURES  IN  THE  DURHAM 
SETTLEMENT. 

At  the  outset  the  settlers  organized  a  co-operative  stock  breeders' 
association.  This  was  done  with  a  view  to  making  Durham  the  home 
of  pure-bred  live  stock.  All  the  settlers  are  members.  There  is  to  be  one 
breed  of  dairy  cattle,  one  breed  of  beef  cattle,  one  breed  of  hogs  and 
two  breeds  of  sheep.  Only  pure-bred  sires  are  to  be  used  and  those 
owned  on  the  settlement  are  to  belong  to  the  association  or  be  approved 
by  its  executive  committee. 

In  cattle  Holsteins  were  adopted  as  the  dairy  breed,  Shorthorns  as 
the  beef  breed,  Duroc  Jerseys  is  the  approved  breed  of  hogs,  and  Romney 
Marsh  and  Rambouillet  the  breeds  of  sheep. 

The  executive  committee  of  this  association  has  done  most  of  the 
buying  for  the  settlement.  Professor  Gordon  H.  True,  head  of  the 
Animal  Husbandry  Division  of  the  University,  is  chairman  and  the 
other  members  are  all  good  stockmen. 

As  the  settlers  have  little  capital,  they  have  not  been  able  to  buy  many 
pure-bred  animals,  but  in  what  they  have  done,  they  have  been  helped 
greatly  by  the  generous  interest  and  co-operation  of  men  interested  in 
the  breeds  adopted.  Mr.  Fred  J.  Kiesel  of  Sacramento  gave  the  asso- 
ciation a  registered  Holstein  bull,  unsurpassed  in  breeding  by  any  in 
the  state ;  and  Mr.  R.  K.  Walker  of  Bonita,  California,  gave  a  registered 
Duroc  boar.  They  bought  another  pure-bred  bull  of  excellent  breeding 
from  the  noted  Morris  herd,  the  owner  letting  them  have  this  animal  at 
a  greatly  reduced  price.  Several  farms  have  nothing  but  registered 
cattle  and  hogs. 

The  committee  appointed  to  buy  cows  bought  only  animals  that  had 
been  tested  for  tuberculosis,  as  it  is  intended  to  start  and  keep  free  of 
this  disease.  Owing  to  the  urgent  need  for  more  cows  than  the  com- 
mittee was  able  to  buy,  some  of  the  settlers  bought  without  testing,  on 
the  understanding  that  they  were  to  be  tested  in  the  near  future.  On 
the  visit  of  the  university  veterinarian,  it  was  found  that  three-fourths 
of  the  cows  so  purchased  were  tubercular.  Action  was  taken  at  once 
to  dispose  of  all  these  animals,  all  the  members  of  the  association  having 
generously  agreed  to  share  the  loss  instead  of  leaving  it  to  fall  wholly 
on  the  few  unfortunate  buyers.  If  it  had  not  been  organized  as  a 
co-operative  settlement,  the  effort  to  keep  out  tuberculosis  would  have 
broken  down  the  first  year. 

The  settlement  has  a  buying  and  selling  committee  which  buys  imple- 
ments and  supplies  for  the  members  at  wholesale  for  cash.  It  has  in 
this  way  bought  seed  grain,  seed  alfalfa,  seed  potatoes,  farm  implements 


—  15  — 

and  numerous  other  things,  and  wholesale  prices  are  often  obtained. 
They  are  making  progress  toward  selling  as  a  community.  The  benefits 
of  this  co-operative  action  have  already  been  strikingly  illustrated. 

AID  TO  SETTLERS  IN  IMPROVING  THEIR  FARMS. 

Instead  of  leaving  each  of  the  120  families  on  the  settlement  to  buy 
material,  look  for  workmen  and  design  his  house  and  farm  buildings, 
the  board  has  helped  the  settlers  plan  their  houses,  buy  fence  posts,  fence 
wire,  cement,  lumber  and  pipe  in  carload  lots  for  cash.  In  this  way  an 
&  mount  of  time  and  money  has  been  saved  which  can  only  be  realized 
i'ully  by  those  who  have  seen  the  results. 

The  plans  of  houses  for  settlers  and  their  location  on  each  farm  were 
worked  out  by  the  farmstead  engineer  after  he  had  gone  into  this 
matter  fully  with  the  settler  and  his  wife.  The  plans  for  each  home- 
stead worked  out  through  these  conferences  of  the  engineer  and  the 
settler,  included  the  grouping  of  all  the  farm  buildings  and  arrange- 
ment of  roads,  the  garden,  the  orchard  and  fields  of  each  farm.  The 
-settler  began  therefore  with  a  working  plan,  not  only  for  present,  but 
future  improvements.  Nothing  lias  been  done  in  a  casual  or  haphazard 
fashion  and,  as  a  result,  a  country  neighborhood  has  been  created  in 
less  than  a  year's  time  which,  because  of  convenient  arrangement  of 
roads  and  farms  and  attractiveness  of  houses,  is  a  source  of  pride  and 
satisfaction  to  the  settlers  and  presents  a  favorable  contrast  to  the 
unplanned  development  of  any  new  community  elsewhere. 

The  photographs  and  drawings  of  some  improved  farmsteads  and 
the  illustrations  of  farm  laborers'  homes  (pages  23,  25,  28,  29)  will 
give  some  idea  of  what  has  been  accomplished  in  the  first  twelve  months 
of  this  development. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 
The  people  of  this  settlement  have  come  together  from  all  parts  of 
the  country,  from  Alaska  to  Texas.  They  include  a  dozen  nationalities. 
To  bring  them  into  a  harmonious  working  relation  in  matters  affecting 
the  community  and  to  determine  what  aid  the  state  ought  to  give  and 
where  it  ought  to  be  withheld  is  a  task  that  requires  tact,  practical 
knowledge  of  farming,  and  good  judgment  as  to  men.  The  board  has 
realized  that  it  must  restrict  its  activities  to  those  things  that  would 
assist,  stimulate  and  encourage  effort  on  the  part  of  settlers  and  stop 
at  the  point  where  aid  would  tend  to  lessen  self-reliance  and  initia- 
tive.- The  personal  representative  of  the  board  in  the  settlement  is 
therefore  a  very  important  individual.  Mr.  George  C.  Kreutzer,  the 


3-46390 


—  16  — 

superintendent  at  Durham,  is  a  graduate  of  an  agricultural  college, 
has  worked  for  the  U.  S.  Reclamation  Service,  was  superintendent  of 
a  state  land  settlement  in  Australia,  and  a  farm  adviser  in  California. 
He  brought  to  his  task  not  only  fine  natural  qualities,  but  an  unusually 
rounded-out  experience. 

He  has  been  the  counselor  and  friend  of  each  settler  in  regard  to 
when  to  plant  crops,  in  the  buying  of  live  stock  and  equipment  and 
tools,  and  their  adviser  in  forming  co-operative  buying  and  selling 
organizations;  has  been  an  officer  of  the  settlers'  co-operative  stock 
breeders'  association  and  has  directed  the  construction  of  the  extensive 
scheme  of  roads,  drains  and  other  irrigation  works  which  have  cost  over 
$100,000,  as  well  as  preparation  of  land  and  putting  in  crops  for  settlers 
by  the  board,  which  during  the  first  year  cost  over  $45,000. 

Mr.  Kreutzer  has  had  a  valuable  assistant  in  Mr.  Max  E.  Cook,  the 
farmstead  engineer.  The  settlers  have  found  in  him  a  competent  and 
sympathetic  adviser.  He  has  saved  them  alike  from  the  mistakes  of 
extravagance  and  of  attempting  to  live  in  houses  lacking  sanitation  and 
convenience.  His  supervision  of  houses  and  farm  buildings  enabled 
the  120  settlers  to  go  about  their  urgent  farming  operations  at  a  time 
when  this  was  of  vital  importance.  Houses  and  barns  have  been  built 
in  less  time  at  less  cost,  are  better  planned,  are  more  convenient  and 
comfortable  than  would  have  been  possible  under  an  unplanned  unor- 
ganized development. 

THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  READY-MADE  FARMS. 
The  average  cost  of  the  40-acre  farms  in  this  settlement,  with  the 
improvements  and  equipment,  would  be  about  $300  an  acre.  The  settler 
must  earn  5  per  cent  interest  on  this  amount,  taxes,  and  charges  for 
water  used  in  irrigation,  which  together  amount  to  about  $20  an  acre, 
before  he  can  set  aside  anything  for  living  expenses  or  to  meet  the 
payments  on  land  and  on  money  borrowed  for  improvements.  This 
makes  time  an  element  of  first  importance.  The  settler  with  small 
capital  mast  grow  a  crop  the  first  year.  The  board  helped  him  to  do 
this  by  hiring  a  large  outfit  to  prepare  some  land  for  irrigation  and 
seed  it  to  alfalfa,  and  to  prepare  and  seed  a  much  larger  area  to  grain. 
The  settlers  who  secured  these  ready-made  farms  paid  the  state  40  per 
cent  of  the  cost  of  preparing  land  for  irrigation  and  the  full  cost  of 
.seeding  land  to  grain.  The  settlers  who  secured  farms  in  June,  1917, 
were  able  to  cut  three  crops  of  alfalfa  before  winter.  Those  that  had 
grain  crops,  harvested  and  sold  them  within  two  months  after  taking 
possession.  The  ready-made  farm  gave  them  a  living  income  the  first 
season. 


The  following  statement  of  returns  from  the  grain  crops  planted  by 
the  board  shows  how  settlers  were  helped  by  this  preparatory  work. 
Some  of  the  settlers  were  able  to  grow7  a  crop  of  beans  after  the  grain 
crop  was  harvested: 

('.   \V.  BAKER,  Allotment  1 — 15.4  acres  oats. 

Sold   crop   standing $262  40 

Value  of  straw  and  stubble 04  00 

$326  40 
1'aid  board  _.  221  40 


Net  return $105  00 

E.  O.  MESSINGER,  Allotment  6 — 18.2  acres  barley. 

848  sacks   at  $2.25 $7s:>,  00 

Value  of  straw  and   stubble 72  00 


Paid  board  for  planting $218  40 

Sacks  and  threshing 205  32 

Binding  twine,  hauling,  etc 45  00 

468  72 


Net  return $386  28 

\\'M.  DEVENEY,  Allotment  7 — 20.4  acres  barley. 

410  sacks   barley   at  $2.25—  .$1)42  75 

Value  of  straw   and  stubble ! SO  00 

-    $1,022  75 

Sacks  and  threshing $251  40 

Binding,  hauling,  twine,  etc 105  25 

356  65 


Net   return    $666  10 

CARL  NEILSEN,  Allotment  10 — 18  acres  barley. 

375  sacks  barley  at  $2.25 $843  75 

Straw   and    stubble 72  00 

$915  75 
2   tons   hay 40  00 


$955  75 
Paid   board   $209  00 

Threshing    and    sacks 225  00 

Binding  twine,   hauling,   etc 45  00 

479  00 


Net  return $476  75 

A.  I.  MAXWELL,  Allotment  11 — 12.6  acres  barley. 

236  sacks  barley  at  $2.25 $531  00 

Value  of  straw  and  stubble 50  00 

2  tons   hay   40  00 

$621  00 

Paid    board    $126  00 

Sacks  and   threshing ! 141  60 

Binding  twine,  hauling,  etc 40  00 

307  60 


Net   return    $313  40 


—  18  — 

E.  E.  WILL,  Allotment  61 — 47  acres  barley. 

713  sacks  at  $2.32* $1,657  73 

Value  of  stubble  for  hog  raising 75  00 

$1,732  73 

Paid  state  for  plowing  and  seeding $640  90 

Cost  of  harvesting 165  55 

Sacks   178  25 

Cartage  to  warehouse 35  00 

Insurance  and  incidentals 16  65 

1,036  35 


Net  return   —       $696  38 

Jos.  N.  THORNTON,  Allotment  39 — 54  acres  wheat. 

337  sacks  wheat  at  $4.50 $1,516  50 

Value  of  cheat  and  stubble 162  00 

-  $1,678  50 
Paid  state $702  00 

Harvesting,  sacks,  cartage  and  insurance 352  00 

1,054  00 

Net  return   $6L'4  50 

FRANK  M.  HALL,  Allotment  59 — 47.7  acres  barley. 

84,000  Ibs.  (787  sacks)  at  $2.35  per  cwt $1,974  00 

13  sacks  of  cheat  at  $1.25 16  25 

Stubble    25  00 

-  $2,01.-,  1T, 
Paid  board  for  putting  in  crop $620  10 

Harvesting,    sacks,    insurance,    etc 440  00 

1,000  10 


Net   return   $955  15 

ROY  WHITE,  Allotment  60 — 60  acres  barley. 

980  sacks  at  $2.55 $2,499  00 

3  tons  grain  hay  at  $15 45  00 

Stubble    75  00 

$2,619  00 

Paid   board   $720  00 

Harvesting,  sacks,  insurance,  etc 508  50 

1,228  50 


Net    return    $1,390  50 

The  help  given  settlers  in  planting  crops  saved  them  a  year's  delay. 
They  could  not  have  done  this  work  themselves,  nor  could  they  have 
hired  the  large  number  of  teams  and  implements  needed  to  do  the 
work  in  a  short  time.  Even  the  board  could  not  hire  the  needed  teams. 
It  had  to  buy  a  75-horsepower  Best  tractor  and  full  equipment  of  plows 
and  cultivators.  It  has  also  had  to  buy  teams  to  supplement  the  con- 
tracting outfits  engaged.  Its  work  did  not  displace  or  lessen  the  set- 
tlers' efforts  because  the  board  did  only  what  the  settler  could  not  do. 
The  result  has  been  that  within  twelve  months  from  the  date  of  begin- 
ning settlement,  all  of  the  land  is  under  cultivation.  It  would  have 


—  19  — 


—  20  — 

taken  the  settlers  working  without  this  aid  two  or  three  years  to  have 
brought  about  this  result.  In  the  interval  there  would  have  been  idle 
land  and  small  returns.  This  saving  of  time  is  a  great  factor  in  increas- 
ing the  settler's  income,  keeping  him  from  becoming  disheartened  and 
enabling  him  to  make  his  payments.  This  kind  of  organized  develop- 
ment is  more  economical  and  far  more  valuable  to  the  settler  than  lend- 
ing him  money  with  which  to  hire  the  work  done. 

FINANCIAL  SUMMARY. 

The  board  bought  the  two  tracts  of  land  for  $542,719.  The  settlers' 
contracts  and  the  leased  land  have  a  value  of  $828,885.  The  difference 
between  the  buying  and  selling  price  is  being  used  to  build  roads,  irriga- 
tion works,  drains  and  other  community  improvements  and  to  pay  all 
administrative  expenses,  including  salaries  of  the  superintendent  and 
the  farmstead  engineer.  The  improvements  are  nearly  all  completed. 
The  ditches  will  be  turned  over  to  a  co-operative  association  of  settlers 
without  any  additional  charge. 

The  greater  part  of  the  area  was  bought  from  Stanford  University. 
the  board  paying  one-tenth  cash,  and  is  to  pay  the  remainder  in  amor- 
tizing payments  extending  over  20  years.  These  payments  are  being 
met  by  payments  from  settlers.  It  owes  the  state  $250,000  and  pays  the 
state  $10,000  per  year  interest  until  the  $250,000  begins  to  be  repaid. 
The  present  year's  interest  is  in  the  state  treasury,  although  it  is  not 
due  until  June  30. 

The  settlers  who  were  granted  farms  had  an  average  capital  of  $:}.<)00 
in  cash  and  some  of  them  had  fairly  good  equipment.  Considerably 
more  than  half  the  settlers  were  tenant  farmers  and  they  would  still  be 
renters  if  they  had  been  compelled  to  buy  under  ordinary  commercial 
conditions.  All  have  a  knowledge  of  farming,  but  \vith  all  these  advan- 
tages, it  will  take  industry  and  frugality  and  good  management  tor 
them  to  meet  their  payments  for  the  first  five  years. 

It  will  be  far  easier  for  the  people  in  this  colony  who  are  all  making 
the  same  struggle,  all  faced  by  the  same  problems  and  all  required  to 
live  in  about  the  same  way,  to  succeed,  than  it  would  be  if  they  were 
scattered  through  different  communities  and  surrounded  by  neighbors 
who  either  owned  their  farms  or  who  were  not  trying  to  accumulate 
money  to  pay  for  one.  The  fact  that  all  these  settlers  are  in  debt,  that 
they  are  all  compelled  to  work  hard'  and  be  careful  and  saving  is  a 
source  of  strength  to  the  less  experienced  members  of  the  colony,  and 
especially  to  those  who  lack  strength  of  purpose. 


—  21  — 


Group  settlement  gives  the  benefits  of  pioneering  without  its  hard- 
ships. The  first  settlers  in  any  new  country  take  their  privations  and 
hardships  as  a  matter  of  course  because  everybody  has  to  endure  them. 
There  is  no  contrast  of  better  conditions  to  make  them  discontented. 
This  spirit  of  cheerful  indifference  to  temporary  privations  is  marked 
in  the  Durham  Colony.  Some  of  the  settlers  are  living  in  their  barns 
the  first  year,  either  because  they  lacked  money  to  build  a  house,  or 
because  they  believed  labor  and  material  would  be  cheaper  later  on. 
Outside  of  the  settlement  living  in  a  barn  would  be  a  humiliation,  but 


Part  of  22  acres  reserved  for  community  purposes. 

in  the  colony  it  commands  admiration  and  respect.  All  these  aids  to 
frugality,  keeping  settlers  in  good  heart  and  willing  to  persevere,  are 
needed. 

Fanning  is  not  a  highly  lucrative  occupation  and  the  expenses  of 
converting  raw  land  into  a  habitable  and  productive  farm  are  far 
greater  today  than  they  were  a  few  years  ago.  Material  needed  for 
fences,  buildings,  the  cast  of  live  stock  and  implements  and  skilled 
labor  when  it  is  employed,  all  make  heavy  inroads  on  the  settler's 
capital.  The  fact  that  the  board  is  in  a  position  to  extend  sympathetic 
help  in  cases  of  misfortune  is  a  great  encouragement  to  the  aspiring,  as 
the  oversight  of  the  superintendent  is  a  stimulant  to  those  who  might 
otherwise  become  negligent  and  shiftless. 


—  22  — 

SOCIAL  PROGRESS  OF  THE  COLONY. 

The  board  set  aside  22  acres  as  a  community  center.  It  is  part  of 
an  oak  grove  (see  page  21).  It  is  planned  to  have  on  this  area  a 
community  hall  where  different  social  and  business  organizations  will 
meet.  There  will  be  a  sport  grounds  where  the  boys  can  play  baseball 
and  the  girls  tennis.  Later  a  vocational  school  is  hoped  for.  This 
grove  has  become  the  picnic  grounds  of  that  section.  It  is  something 
that  every  rural  community  needs  and  very  few  have. 

When  this  property  was  purchased,  no  landowner  had  lived  on  it 
for  twenty  years.  It  was  farmed  by  tenants  and  hired  labor.  Today 
120  families  live  in  their  own  homes  and  till  their  own  fields,  and  in 
these  homes  there  are  over  200  children.  The  selling  price  of  land  has 
been  increased,  not  only  within  the  boundaries  of  the  settlement,  but 
around  it.  It  has  increased  the  revenue  from  taxes,  increased  the  busi- 
ness of  the  surrounding  towns,  added  to  the  political  and  social,  strength 
of  the  state,  has  added  to  the  aspirations,  the  comfort  and  happiness  of 
every  family.  This  has  been  done  without  any  cost  to  the  taxpayers  of 
the  state.  It  encourages  those  who  believe  in  an  enlarged  use  of  tin- 
; state  as  an  instrument  of  direct  service  in  those  things  that  affect  the 
'general  welfare.  .4 

THE  FARM  LABORER'S  ALLOTMENT  A  STEPPING-STONE  TO 

THE  FARM. 

The  families  of  small  capital  who  were  content  with  farm  laborers' 
allotments  have  done  well.  The  initial  payment  on  these  allotments  was 
less  than  $20,  and  where  the  applicant  did  not  have  enough  capital  to 
build  his  house  he  had  no  difficulty  in  securing  a  loan  from  the  board 
for  money  to  buy  the  material,  the  settlers  as  a  rule  agreeing  to  make- 
monthly  payments.  These  workers  were  able  to  earn  from  $2.50  to  $3.50 
a  day  with  board,  or  up  to  $4.50  where  they  boarded  at  home.  Carpen- 
ters have  earned  $5.25  a  day  for  eight  hours '  work  and  have  been  able  to 
improve  and  cultivate  their  blocks  outside  of  the  working  hours  without 
losing  any  time.  The  farm  worker  who  had  a  team  was  paid  $6.50  a 
day  for  himself  and  team. 

Figures  (1)  and  (2)  are  the  homes  of  farm  workers  which  are 
inserted  to  show  how  comfortable  and  attractive  they  can  be  made,  and 
below  each  of  these  is  a  summary  of  what  the  settler  has  earned  and 
saved  since  June  last. 

Several  farm  workers  are  planning  to  buy  more  land  in  the  near 
future  and  become  their  own  employers.  They  will  have  no  difficulty 
in  disposing  of  their  present  homes  when  ready  to  make  the  change. 


—  23  — 


24  

It  is  confidently  believed  thai  many  of  these  farm  laborers  or  their 
children  will  be  farm  owners  of  the  future.  This  aspiration  for  larger 
areas  is  not,  however,  universal.  One  farm  worker  had  a  capital  of 
£4,700  when  granted  his  2-acre  allotment.  He  has  worked  for  others 
all  his  life,  has  a  horror  of  debt,  and  no  desire  to  assume  the  responsi- 
bilities of  management.  He  prefers  to  continue  the  kind  of  employ- 
ment he  understands  and  with  which  he  is  content. 

Before  the  plan  of  creating  farm  laborers'  homes  \\a.s  adopted  at 
Durham,  the  farm  laborer's  family  in  California,  as  elsewhere,  had  as 
a  rule  to  live  in  town.  The  head  of  the  family  was  away  from  home 
and  children.  He  and  they  had  no  social  status.  There  was  nothing 
in  their  life  to  encourage  independence,  ambition  or  self-respect,  the 
things  that  develop  character.  Children  had  little  opportunity  to 
become  familiar  with  rural  life  or  to  learn  how  to  plant  and  grow 
crops.  The  homes  on  these  2-acre  blocks  will  be  the  training  school  of 
many  an  expert  cultivator  of  the  future  and  a  source  of  pride  and 
.satisfaction  to  all  wrho  dwell  therein. 

PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

Although  less  than  a  year  old.  the  settlement  has  become  widely 
known.  Officials  from  ten  American  states,  from  Canada  and  Australia 
have  visited  the  colony  and  made  reports  on  the  scheme  and  its  results. 
Agricultural  and  engineering  papers,  maga/ines  and  reviews  have 
described  and  discussed  its  plans  and  the  state  policy  of  which  it  is  a 
concrete  illustration.  This  challenge  to  public  attention  is  not  due  to 
the  size  of  the  settlement  or  the  amount  of  money  appropriated  to 
iinance  it.  It. grows  out  of  the  fact  that  it  is  an  attempt  to  solve  in  a 
definite  way  some  problems  of  rural  life  in  the  United  States  that  for 
the  last  twenty-five  years  have  caused  growing  anxiety  and  unrest. 

Acting  on  the  recommendation  of  Governor  Stephens,  the  legislature 
in  1919  appropriated  $1,000,000  for  continuing  the  settlement  policy 
and  authorized  a  bond  issue  of  $10,000,000.  The  latter  will  have  to  be 
ratified  by  vote  of  the  people.  If  approved,  it  will  enable  the  board  to 
proceed  with  land  settlement  work  in  a  more  systematic  and  economical 
way  than  would  otherwise  be  possible. 

The  $1,000,000  appropriation  will  not  be  available  until  August  and 
the  Land  Settlement  Board  can  not  officially  invite  offers  of  land  until 
then,  but  some  land  has  already  been  tendered  informally  and  it  is 
hoped  other  areas  may  be,  so  that  the  period  of  investigation,  after  the 
money  becomes  available,  may  be  shortened.  It  is  hoped  that  the  next 
f.rea  purchased  will  be  large  enough  to  provide  homes  for  about  250 


—  25  — 


—  26  — 

settlers-;  more  than  twice  this  number  have  already  registered  as  appli- 
cants for  farms  or  farm  workers'  homes.  Under'the  amended  act,  tin- 
board  may  give  preference  to  returning  soldiers  and  sailors,  and  no 
doubt  this  will  be  done.  If  the  bond  issue  is  approved,  the  larger  sum 
of  money  thus  made  available  will  enable  the  state  to  make  this  act  an 
adequate  means  of  showing  our  gratitude  for  the  sacrifices  and  risk  of 
the  soldiers  and  to  create  in  different  sections  of  the  state,  organized 
and  highly  successful  rural  communities. 

The  date  of  opening  of  the  next  settlement  will  depend  on  the  amount 
of  work  required  to  prepare  the  land  for  settlement.  If  an  area  can 
be  secured  already  provided  with  water  for  irrigation,  or  one  which 
does  not  require  the  construction  of  costly  works,  then  it  ought  to  be 
possible  to  have  farms  ready  for  settlement  in  the  spring  of  1920.  The 
board  will  hasten  the  preliminary  steps  in  every  way  consistent  with 
economy. 

CAPITAL  THE  INTENDING  SETTLER  SHOULD  HAVE. 

Some  objections  have  been  raised  to  the  requirement  of  the  board,  in 
dealing  with  settlers  at  Durham,  that  each  approved  applicant  for  a 
farm  should  have  not  less  than  $1,500  in  money  or  its  equivalent  in  live 
stock  and  farming  implements.  It  was  thought  that  this  would  exclude 
many  otherwise  worthy  persons.  The  board  believes  that  this  require- 
ment is  a  protection  to  oversanguine  and  inexperienced  applicants. 
The  farm  and  its  equipment  mean  an  investment  of  anywhere  fr.nn 
$5,000  to  $20,000.  This  is  too  great  a  burden  of  debt  for  a  settler  with- 
out money  to  assume.  Payments  under  these  conditions  can  only  be 
met  by  toil  and  privations  that  are  not  desirable  even  if  a  settler  is 
willing  to  assume  them. 

It  would  also  be  a  doubtful  venture  for  the  state  to  furnish  an 
improved  and  equipped  farm  to  anyone  who  had  no  nnmey  of  his  own 
invested  and  who  could,  therefore,  abandon  the  property  at  any  time 
without  loss.  It  would  be  an  invitation  to  the  unstable  and  inexperi- 
enced. It  would  also  lessen  the  number  benefited  as  there  would  be  a 
much  larger  expenditure  for  each  accepted  settler.  Both  in  the  interest 
of  the  settler  and  of  the  state,  therefore,  a  certain  capital  is  needed  and 
&1,500  was  regarded  as  a  minimum  for  Durham.  The  wisdom  of  this 
has  been  amply  demonstrated.  In  one  instance  sickness  and  accidents 
in  the  settler's  family  involved  expenses  equal  to  the  settler's  capital. 
If  he  had  had  no  funds  of  his  own,  the  state  would  have  not  only  had  to 
furnish  the  land,  the  money  for  .its  improvement,  but  also  to  pay  sur- 
geons' and  doctors'  bills.  In  this  instance  the  settler's  capital  was  his 


97 

~     £j  I      ~ 

insurance.  He  has  been  able  to  pull  through  and  will  succeed.  He 
would  have  failed  without  it. 

Other  countries  that  have  had  considerable  experience  in  planned 
rural  development  have  found  it  imperative  to  require  the  settler  shall 
have  some  capital.  In  Denmark  he  is  required  to  have  not  less  than  one- 
tenth  of  the  cost  of  the  completed  farm.  In  most  of  the  Australian 
states  he  is  required  to  have  a  capital  of  $1,200  to  $1,500.  As  a  rule, 
it  will  be  safer  and  better  for  a  man  with  less  than  $1.500  in  money  or 
equipment  to  begin  with  a  farm  laborer's  allotment  which  does  not 
require  any  capital,  and  the  act  has  been  amended  so  that  a  farm 
laborer's  allotment  can  hereafter  have  a  value  of  $1,000.  Under 
the  original  act  it  was  $400. 

The  high  price  of  land  is  a  source  of  anxiety  to  the  board.  So  much 
of  the  colonizing  activity  of  the  past  has  been  speculative  that  it  has 
helped  to  inflate  land  prices.  In  the  best  farm  districts  of  America 
farm  lands  cost  more  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  except  in  the 
more  densely  peopled  sections  of  western  Europe.  In  other  countries, 
it  has  loiiy  been  recognized  that  high  prices  for  land  inflict  the  same 
burden  on  agriculture  that  watered  stock  does  on  industrial  under- 
takings, and  efforts  are  made  by  taxation  and  through  the  influence  of 
public  opinion  to  keep  land  prices  down  to  productive  values.  Here  we 
have  encouraged  inflation. 

While  it  is  believed  that  conditions  in  California  are  more  favorable 
than  in  the  agricultural  states  of  the  Middle  West,  there  is  a  danger 
that  land  prices  here  may  restrict  the  efforts  of  the  board  to  help  men 
secure  farms.  This  gives  added  importance  to  the  farm  workers' 
homes. 

The  next  settlement  will  involve  less  labor  than  was  required  to 
start  the  first  one.  Its  accounting  forms  have  all  been  prepared,  as 
have  the  forms  of  contracts  with  settlers.  Plans  and  estimates  for 
farm  buildings  for  Durham  can  be  used  elsewhere.  The  tractor  and 
its  equipment,  the  teams  and  tools  bought  for  the  first  settlement,  can 
be  moved  to  the  next  one,  for  the  board's  development  at  Durham  will 
soon  be  ended. 


If  the  foregoing  does  not  give  the  information  desired,  or  if  intending 
settlers  wish  to  be  informed  by  letter  when  the  next  area  will  be  ready, 
write  to  the  Secretary  of  the  State  Land  Settlement  Board  at  Berkeley, 
California. 

For  the  next  settlement  or  settlements,  the  board  desires  an  area  of 
10,000  to  15,000  acres,  or  two  areas  of  5,000  to  10,000  acres.  The  board 
would  like  to  hear  from  owners  or  others  interested  as  to  where  suitable 
land  may  be  purchased. 


—  28  — 


29 


—  30  — 


—  31  — 


Making  concrete  pipe  for  use  in  settlers'  ditches. 


APPENDIX. 


SENATE  BILL  NO.  584  (OLD  ACT). 

SENATE  BILL  NO.  221  (NEW  LAW). 

COPY  OP  APPLICATION  FORM,  COMPLETE. 


SENATE  BILL  NO.  584. 
CHAPTER  755. 

An  act  creating  a  state  Jand  settlement  board  and  defining  its  powers  and  duties  and 
making  an  appropriation  in  aid  of  its  operations. 

[Approved  June  1,  1917.] 

The  people  of  the  State  of  California  do  enact  as  follows: 

SECTION  1.  The  legislature  believes  that  land  settlement  is  a  problem  of  great 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  all  the  people  of  the  State  of  California  and  for  that 
reason  through  this  particular  act  endeavors  to  improve  the  general  economic  and 
social  conditions  of  agricultural  settlers  within  the  state  and  of  the  people  of  tho 
state  in  general. 

SEC.  2.  With  the  object  of  promoting  closer  agricultural  settlement,  assisting 
deserving  and  qualified  persons  to  acquire  small  improved  farms,  providing  homes  for 
farm  laborers,  increasing  opportunities  under  the  federal  farm  loan  act,  and  demon- 
strating the  value  of  adequate  capital  and  organized  direction  in  subdividing  and 
preparing  agricultural  land  for  settlement,  there  is  hereby  created  a  state  land  settle- 
ment board  to  consist  of  five  members  appointed  by  the  governor  to  hold  office  for  a 
term  of  four  years  and  until  their  successors  have  been  appointed  and  shall  have 
qualified ;  provided,  however,  that  of  the  members  first  appointed  two  shall  be 
appointed  to  hold  office  until  the  first  day  in  January,  nineteen  hundred  eighteen, 
one  until  the  first  day  in  January,  nineteen  hundred  nineteen,  one  until  the  first  day 
in  January,  nineteen  hundred  twenty,  and  one  until  the  first  day  in  January,  nineteen 
hundred  twenty-one. 

The  members  of  the  board  shall  receive  a  per  diem  for  each  meeting  attended,  to 
be  fixed  by  the  state  board  of  control  with  the  approval  of  the  governor ;  they  shall 
also  receive  their  actual  necessary  traveling  expenses  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties. 

The  board  shall  elect  its  own  chairman  and  secretary.  The  secretary  may  or  may 
not  be  a  member  of  the  board.  The  board  shall  appoint  a  superintendent  who  shall 
be  the  general  executive  officer  of  the  board,  and  such  expert,  technical,  and  clerical 
assistance  as  may  prove  necessary,  and  shall  define  their  duties.  It  shall  fix  the 
salaries  of  all  officers  and  other  employees,  with  the  approval  of  the  state  board  of 
control. 

SEC.  3.  The  state  land  settlement  board,  hereinafter  called  the  board,  shall 
constitute  a  body  corporate  with  the  right  on  behalf  of  the  state  to  hold  property, 
receive  and  request  donations,  sue  and  be  sued,  and  all  other  rights  provided  by  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  the  State  of  California  as  belonging  to  bodies  corporate. 

Three  members  of  the  board  shall  constitute  a  quorum  and  such  quorum  may 
exercise  all  the  power  and  authority  conferred  on  the  board  by  this  act. 

SEC.  4.  For  the  purposes  of  this  act  the  board  may  in  the  manner  hereinafter 
provided  acquire  on  behalf  of  the  state  agricultural  lands  in  California  that  are  sus- 
ceptible of  intensive  culture  and  suitable  for  colonization  in  an  area  of  not  more 
than  ten  thousand  acres,  together  with  any  water  rights  and  rights  of  way  desirable 
or  necessary  therefor,  and  shall  without  delay  improve,  subdivide  and  sell  such  lands 
with  appurtenant  water  rights  to  approved  bona  fide  settlers  under  the  conditions 
and  in  the  manner  hereinafter  provided ;  provided,  that,  with  the  approval  of  the 
governor,  the  board  shall  have  the  authority  to  set  aside  for  township  purposes  a 
suitable  area  purchased  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  and  to  subdivide  such  area 
and  sell  or  lease  the  same  for  cash,  in  lots  of  such  size,  and  with  such  restrictions  as 
to  resale,  as,  with  the  approval  of  the  governor,  they  shall  deem  best ;  and  provided, 
further,  that  the  board  shall  have  authority  to  set  aside  and  dedicate  to  public  use 
such  area  or  areas  as  it  may  deem  desirable  for  roads,  schoolhouses,  churches,  or 
other  public  purposes. 

SEC.  5.  Whenever  the  board  believes  that  private  land  should  be  purchased  for 
settlement  under  this  act,  it  shall  give  notice  by  publication  in  one  or  more  news- 
papers of  general  circulation  in  this  state,  setting  forth  the  area  and  character  of  the 
land  desired  and  the  conditions  that  shall  govern  such  proposed  purchase,  and  inviting 
owners  of  lands  believed  to  be  suitable,  and  who  are  willing  to  enter  into  a  contract 
for  the  sale  of  such  lands  on  the  conditions  proposed,  to  submit  such  lands  for 
inspection. 


—  36  — 

SEC.  6.  Within  thirty  days  thereafter  the  board  shall  direct  an  officer  or  officers 
in  its  employ,  or  one  or  more  persons  who  may  at  its  request  be  designated  by  the 
dean  of  the  college  of  agriculture  of  the  University  of  California,  to  inspect  and  report 
on  all  tracts  of  land  suitable  for  closer  settlement  which  are  so  submitted. 

'SEC.  7.  The  board  shall  give  not  less  than  one  week's  notice  of  the  approximate 
date  when  tracts  submitted  will  be  inspected  and  every  report  of  such  inspection 
shall  as  far  as  practicable  specify  the — 

(a)   Situation  and  brief  description  thereof; 

(6)  Extent  and  situation  of  land  comprising  so  much  of  any  tract  as  it  is  proposed 
to  acquire ; 

(c)  Names  and  addresses  of  the  owners  thereof; 

(d)  Character  of  water  rights; 

(e)  Nature  of  improvements; 

(  f )   Crops  being  grown  on  land  ; 

(«/)   Appraisement  of  value  of  land,  water  rights  and  improvements. 

SEC.  8.  On  receiving  the  reports  on  all  of  the  land  examined  the  board  shall 
decide  which  of  the  areas  is  best  suited  to  the  purposes  of  this  act.  Before  so 
deciding  the  board  may  examine  the  land,  or  it  may  employ  one  or  more  competent 
valuers  to  fix  the  productive  value  of  the  land  and  report  the  same  in  writing ;  the 
owner  or  his  agent  may  give  evidence  as  to  its  value. 

SEC.  9.  If  from  the  evidence  submitted  or  from  the  results  of  its  personal  inspec- 
tion the  board  is  satisfied  that  one  or  more  of  the  tracts  submitted  are  suited  to 
intensive  closer  settlement  and  can  be  acquired  at  a  reasonable  price,  it  shall  submit 
to  the  governor  its  report,  giving  the  reasons  for  recommending  the  purchase,  and  on 
the  approval  of  the  governor  the  board  shall  be  authorized  to  purchase  the  same ; 
provided,  that  before  such  purchase  is  made,  the  attorney  general  shall  approve  the 
title  of  such  lands  and  any  water  rights  appurtenant  thereto,  and  the  president  of 
the  state  water  commission  shall  certify  in  writing  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  any  water 
rights  to  be  conveyed. 

SEC.  10.  All  purchases  of  land  under  this  act  shall  be  made  under  such  terms 
and  conditions  as  shall  give  to  the  board  full  control  of  any  subdivisions  thereof  until 
all  moneys  advanced  by  the  state  for  the  purchase,  improvement,  or  equipment  of  such 
subdivisions  are  fully  repaid,  together  with  interest  thereon  as  herein  provided. 

SEC.  11.  Immediately  upon  taking  possession  of  any  land  purchased  as  above, 
and  after  deducting  any  areas  to  be  set  aside  for  townsites  or  public  purposes  in 
accordance  with  section  four  of  this  act,  the  board  shall  subdivide  it  into  areas  suit- 
able for  farms  and  farm  laborers'  allotments,  and  lay  out,  and  where  necessary, 
construct  roads,  ditches,  and  drains  for  giving  access  to  and  insuring  the  propel 
cultivation  of  the  several  farms  and  allotments.  The  board,  prior  to  disposing  of 
it  to  settlers,  or  at  any  time  after  such  land  has  been  disposed  of,  but  not  after  the 
end  of  the  fifth  year  from  the  commencement  of  the  term  of  the  settler's  purchase 
contract,  may — 

(a)  Prepare  all  or  any  part  of  such  land  for  irrigation  and  cultivation; 

(6)  Seed,  plant,  or  fence  such  laud,  and  cause  dwelling  houses  and  outbuildings 
to  be  erected  on  any  farm  allotment  or  make  any  other  improvements  not  specified 
above  necessary  to  render  the  allotment  habitable  and  productive  in  advance  of  or 
after  settlement,  the  total  cost  of  such  dwellings,  outbuildings,  and  improvements  not 
to  exceed  one  thousand  five  hundred  ($1,500)  dollars  on  any  one  farm  allotment; 

(c)  Cause  cottages  to  be  erected  on  any  farm  laborer's  allotment  and  provide  a 
domestic  water  supply,  the  combined  cost  of  the  cottage  and  water  supply  not  to 
exceed  eight  hundred  ($800)  dollars  an  any  one  farm  laborer's  allotment; 

(d)  Make  loans  to  approved  settlers  on  the  security  of  stock  and  farm  implements, 
such  loans  to  be  secured  by  mortgage  or  mortgages  on  such  stock  or  farm  implements, 
and  the  total  amount  of  any  such  loan,  together  with  money  spent  by  the  board  on 
improvements  as  above  specified,  not  to  exceed  three  thousand  dollars  on  any  one 
farm  allotment. 

SEC.  12.  Authority  is  hereby  granted  to  the  board,  where  deemed  desirable,  to 
operate  and  maintain  any  irrigation  works  constructed  to  serve  any  lands  purchased 
and  sold  under  the  provisions  of  this  act.  All  moneys  received  in  tolls  or  charges 
for  the  operation  and  maintenance  of  any  works  or  for  any  water  supplied  therefrom, 
shall  be  deposited  in  the  land  settlement  fund  created  by  this  act  and  shall  become 
available  for  the  payment  of  any  costs,  expenses,  or  other  charges  authorized  in  this 
act  to  be  paid  from  said  land  settlement  fund. 


—  37  — 

SEC.  13.  After  the  purchase  of  land  by  the  board  under  the  provisions  of  this 
act  and  before  its  disposal  to  approved  bona  fide  applicants  the  board  shall  have 
authority  to  lease  such  land  or  a  part  thereof  on  bonded  or  secured  lease  on  such 
terms  as  it  shall  deem  fit. 

SEC.  14.  Lands  disposed  of  under  this  act,  other  than  lands  set  aside  for  town- 
sites  or  public  purposes,  shall  be  sold  either  as  farm  allotments,  each  of  which  shall 
have  a  value  not  exceeding,  without  improvements,  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  or  as  a 
farm  laborer's  allotments,  each  of  which  shall  have  a  value  not  exceeding,  without 
improvements,  four  hundred  dollars.  Before  any  part  of  an  area  is  thrown  open  for 
settlement  there  shall  be  public  notice  thereof  for  thirty  days  in  one  or  more  daily 
newspapers  of  general  circulation  in  the  state,  setting  forth  the  number  and  size  of 
farm  allotments  or  farm  laborer's  allotments,  or  both,  the  prices  at  which  they  are 
offered  for  sale,  the  minimum  amount  of  capital  a  settler  will  be  required  to  have,  the 
mode  of  payment,  the  amount  of  cash  payment  required,  and  such  other  particulars 
as  the  board  may  think  proper  and  specifying  a  definite  period  within  which  applica- 
tions therefor  shall  be  filed  with  the  board  on  forms  provided  by  the  board.  The 
board  shall  have  the  right  in  its  uncontrolled  discretion  to  reject  any  or  all  applica- 
tions it  may  see  fit  and  may  readvertise  as  aforesaid  as  often  as  it  sees  fit  until  it 
receives  and  accepts  such  number  of  applications  as  it  may  deem  necessary. 

SEC.  15.  Any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  any  person  who  has  declared  his 
intention  of  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  is  not  the  holder  of 
agricultural  land  or  of  possessory  rights  thereto  to  the  value  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  and  who  by  this  purchase  would  not  become  the  holder  of  agricultural  land 
or  of  possessory  rights  thereto  exceeding  such  value,  and  who  is  prepared  to  enter 
within  six  months  upon  actual  occupation  of  the  land  acquired,  may  apply  for  and 
become  the  purchaser  of  either  a  farm  allotment  or  a  farm  laborer's  allotment; 
provided,  that  no  more  than  one  farm  allotment  or  more  than  one  farm  laborer's 
allotment  shall  be  sold  to  any  one  person  ;  provided,  further,  that  no  applicant  shall 
be  approved  who  shall  not  satisfy  the  board  as  to  his  or  her  fitness  successfully  to 
cultivate  and  develop  the  allotment  applied  for. 

SEC.  10.  Within  ten  days  after  the  final  date  set  for  receiving  applications  for 
either  farm  allotments  or  farm  laborer's  allotments  the  beard  shall  meet  to  consider 
the  applications,  and  may  request  applicants  to  appear  in  person ;  provided,  that  the 
board  shall  have  the  power  and  the  uncontrolled  discretion  to  reject  any  or  all 
applications. 

SKC.  17.  The  selling  prices  of  the  several  allotments  into  which  lands  purchased 
under  this  act  are  subdivided,  other  than  those  set  aside  for  townsite  and  public 
purposes,  shall  be  fixed  by  the  board,  so  as  to  render  such  allotments  as  nearly  as 
possible  equally  attractive,  and  calculated  to  return  to  the  state  the  original  cost 
of  the  land,  together  with  a  sufficient  sum  added  thereto  to  cover  all  expenses  and 
costs  of  surveying,  improving,  subdividing,  and  selling  such  lands,  including  the  pay- 
ment of  interest,  and  all  costs  of  engineering,  superintendence,  and  administration, 
including  the  cost  of  operating  any  works  built,  directly  chargeable  to  such  land,  and 
also  the  price  of  so  much  land  as  shall  on  subdivision  be  used  for  roads  and  other 
public  purposes,  and  also  such  sum  as  shall  be  deemed  necessary  to  meet  unforeseen 
contingencies. 

SEC.  IS.  Every  approved  applicant  shall  enter  into  a  contract  of  purchase  with 
the  board,  which  contract  shall  among  other  things  provide  that  the  purchaser  shall 
pay  as  a  cash  deposit  a  sum  equal  to  five  per  cent  of  the  sale  price  of  the  allotment 
and  in  addition  not  less  than  ten  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  any  improvements  made 
thereon,  and,  unless  prepared  to  pay  one-half  of  the  purchase  price  in  cash,  such 
applicant  shall  enter  into  an  agreement  to  make  an  immediate  application  for  a  loan 
from  the  federal  farm  loan  bank  under  the  provisions  of  the  federal  farm  loan  act 
for  an  amount  equal  to  fifty  per  cent  of  the  appraised  value  of  the  land  and  twenty 
per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  improvements  thereon,  and  shall  pay  the  amount  of  any 
loan  so  made  to  the  board  as  a  partial  payment  on  such  land  and  improvements. 
The  balance  due  on  the  land  shall  be  paid  in  amortizing  payments  extending  over  a 
period  to  be  fixed  by  the  board  not  exceeding  forty  years,  together  with  interest 
therefor  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent  per  annum.  The  amount  due  on  improvements 
shall  be  paid  in  amortizing  payments  extending  over  a  period  to  be  fixed  by  the  board 
not  exceeding  twenty  years,  together  with  interest  thereon  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent 
per  annum.  The  repayment  of  loans  made  on  live  stock  or  implements  shall  extend 
over  a  period  to  be  fixed  by  the  board  not  exceeding  five  years ;  provided,  however,  in 


—  38  — 

each  case,  that  the  settler  shall  have  the  right  oil  any  installment  date  after  five  years 
from  the  first  payment,  but  not  before,  to  pay  any  or  all  installments  still  remaining 
unpaid. 

SEC.  19.  The  number  and  amount  of  yearly  or  half  yearly  installments  of  prin- 
cipal and  interest  to  be  paid  to  the  board  under  contracts  of  purchase  shall  be 
calculated  according  to  any  table  adopted  or  approved  by  the  federal  farm  loan  board. 

•SEC.  20.  Every  contract  entered  into  between  the  board  and  an  approved  pur- 
chaser shall  contain  among  other  things  provisions  that  the  purchaser  shall  cultivate 
the  land  in  a  manner  to  be  approved  by  the  board  and  shall  keep  in  good  order  and 
repair  all  buildings,  fences,  and  other  permanent  improvements  situated  on  his  allot- 
ment, reasonable  wear  and  tear  and  damage  by  fire  excepted.  Each  settler  shall,  if 
required,  insure  and  keep  insured  against  fire  all  buildings  on  his  allotment,  the 
policies  therefor  to  be  made  out  in  favor  of  the  board  and  to  be  such  amount  or 
amounts  and  in  such  insurance  companies  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  board. 

SEC.  21.  No  allotment  sold  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  transferred, 
assigned,  mortgaged,  or  sublet  in  whole  or  in  part,  within  five  years  after  the  date 
of  such  contract  without  the  consent  of  the  board  given  in  writing.  At  the  expiration 
of  five  years  after  the  purchase  of  an  allotment,  if  the  board  is  satisfied  that  all 
covenants  and  conditions  of  the  contract  covering  such  allotment  purchase  have  been 
complied  with,  the  purchaser  may,  with  the  written  consent  of  the  board,  transfer, 
assign,  mortgage,  sublet,  or  part  with  the  possession  of  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the 
allotment  covered  by  such  contract. 

In  the  event  of  a  failure  of  a  settler  to  comply  with  any  of  the  terms  of  his 
contract  of  purchase  and  agreement  with  the  board,  the  state  and  the  board  shall  have 
the  right  at  its  option  to  cancel  the  said  contract  of  purchase  and  agreement  and 
thereupon  shall  be  released  from  all  obligation  in  law  or  equity  to  convey  the  prop- 
erty and  the  settler  shall  forfeit  all  right  thereto  and  all  payments  theretofore  made 
shall  be  deemed  to  be  rental  paid  for  occupancy.  The  failure  of  the  board  or  the 
state  to  exercise  any  option  to  cancel  for  any  default  shaJl  not  be  deemed  as  a  waiver 
of  the  right  to  exercise  the  option  to  cancel  for  any  default  thereafter  on  the 
settler's  part.  But  no  forfeiture  so  occasioned  by  default  on  the  part  of  the  settler 
shall  be  deemed  in  any  way  or  to  any  extent  to  impair  the  lien  and  security  of  the 
mortgage  or  trust  instrument  securing  any  loan  that  it  may  have  made  as  in  this  act 
provided.  The  board  shall  have  the  right  and  power  to  enter  into  a  contract  of 
purchase  for  the  sale  and  disposition  of  any  land  forfeited  as  above  provided,  because 
of  default  on  the  part  of  a  settler. 

SEC.  23.  Actual  residence  on  any  allotment  sold  under  the  provisions  of  this  act 
shall  commence  within  six  months  from  the  date  of  the  approval  of  the  application 
and  shall  continue  for  at  least  eight  months  in  each  calendar  year  for  at  least  ten 
years  from  the  date  of  the  approval  of  the  said  application,  unless  prevented  by 
illness  or  some  other  cause  satisfactory  to  the  board ;  provided,  that  in  case  any  farm 
allotment  disposed  of  under  this  act  is  returned  to  and  resold  by  the  state,  the  time 
of  residence  of  the  preceding  purchaser  may  in  the  discretion  of  the  board  be  credited 
to  the  subsequent  purchaser. 

SEC.  24.  The  power  of  eminent  domain  shall  be  exercised  by  the  state  at  the 
request  of  the  board  for  the  condemnation  of  water  rights  and  rights  of  way  for  roads, 
canals,  ditches,  dams,  and  reservoirs  necessary  or  desirable  for  carrying  out  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act,  and  on  request  of  the  board  the  attorney  general  shall  bring  the 
necessary  and  appropriate  proceedings  authorized  by  law  for  such  condemnation  of 
said  water  rights  or  rights  of  way,  and  the  cost  of  all  water  rights  or  rights  of  way 
so  condemned  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  land  settlement  fund  hereinafter  provided  for. 
The  board  shall  have  full  authority  to  appropriate  water  under  the  laws  of  the  state 
when  such  appropriation  is  necessary  or  desirable  for  carrying  out  the  purposes  of 
this  act. 

SEC.  25.  For  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  act  the  sum  of 
two  hundred  sixty  thousand  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  any  moneys  in  the 
state  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated.  Of  this  amount,  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
fifty  thousand  dollars  shall  constitute  a  revolving  fund  to  be  known  as  the  "land 
settlement  fund,"  which  is  calculated  to  be  returned  to  the  state  with  interest  at  the 
rate  of  four  per  cent  per  annum  within  a  period  of  fifty  years  from  the  date  of  the 
passage  of  this  act.  The  remaining  ten  thousand  dollars  shall  constitute  a  fund 
available  for  the  payment  of  administrative  expenses  alone  until  such  time  as  other 
moneys  are  available  for  such  purposes  from  the  sales  of  land  as  provided  for  in  this 


—  39  — 

act.  The  state  controller  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  draw  warrants  upon 
such  funds  from  time  to  time  upon  requisition  of  the  board  approved  by  the  state 
board  of  control,  and  the  state  treasurer  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  pay 
such  warrants. 

SEC.  26.  The  state  board  of  control  is  hereby  authorized  to  provide  for  advances 
of  money  to  the  board  needed  to  meet  contingent  expenses  to  such  an  amount,  not 
exceeding  five  thousand  dollars  as  the  said  board  of  control  shall  deem  necessary. 

SEC.  27.  The  money  paid  by  settlers  on  lands,  iinproYements,  or  in  the  repayment 
of  advances,  shall  be  deposited  in  the  land  settlement  fund  and  be  available  under  the 
same  conditions  as  the  original  appropriation  for  the  following  purposes : 

(a)   Making  improvements  on  land  being  prepared  for  settlement; 

(ft)   Making  advances  to  settlers;  and 

(c)  Completing  payments  on  lands  purchased;  provided,  that  when  these  expendi- 
tures on  an  area  of  ten  thousand  acres  shall  have  been  completed,  then  all  moneys 
received  shall  be  paid  into  the  state  treasury  and  used  to  reimburse  the  state  for  the 
land  settlement  fund  created  by  this  act. 

SEC.  28.  The  board  with  the  approval  of  the  governor  shall  have  authority  to 
make  all  needed  rules  and  regulations  for  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

SEC.  29.  The  board  is  hereby  authorized  to  investigate  land  settlement  conditions 
in  California  and  elsewhere  and  to  submit  recommendations  for  such  legislation  as 
may  be  deemed  by  it  necessary  or  desirable. 

SEC.  30.  The  act  of  the  legislature  entitled  "An  act  providing  for  the  appointment 
of  a  commission  to  investigate  and  report  at  the  forty-second  session  of  the  legislature 
relative  to  the  adoption  of  a  system  of  land  colonization  and  rural  credits  and  making 
an  appropriation  therefor,  approved  May  17,  1915,  is  hereby  repealed. 

SEC.  31.     This  act  may  be  known  and  cited  as  the  "land  settlement  act." 


SENATE  BILL  NO.  221. 
CHAPTER  450. 

An  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  "An  act  creating  a  state  land  settlement  board  and 
defining  its  powers  and  duties  and  making  an  appropriation  in  aid  of  its  opera- 
tions," approved  June  1,  1917,  by  amending  sections  two,  four,  five,  nine,  ten, 
eleven,  fourteen,  fifteen,  eighteen,  twenty,  twenty-one,  twenty-five,  twenty-seven, 
twenty-eight  and  twenty-nine  thereof,  and  by  adding  a  new  section  thereto  to  be 
numbered  section  twenty-ttvo,  and  making  an  appropriation  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  out  the  provisions  of  said  act. 

The  people  of  the  State  of  California  do  enact  as  follows: 

SECTION  1.  Section  two  of  an  act  entitled  "An  act  creating  a  state  land  settle- 
ment board  and  defining  its  powers  and  duties  and  making  an  appropriation  in  aid 
of  its  operations,"  approved  June  1,  1917,  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

:Sec.  2.  The  object  of  this  act  is  to  provide  employment  and  rural  homes  for 
soldiers,  sailors,  marines  and  others  who  have  served  with  the  armed  forces  of  the 
United  States  in  the  European  war  or  other  wars  of  the  United  States,  including 
former  American  citizens  who  served  in  allied  armies  against  the  central  powers  and 
have  been  repatriated,  and  who  have  been  honorably  discharged,  to  promote  closer 
agricultural  settlement,  to  assist  deserving  and  qualified  persons  to  acquire  small 
improved  farms,  to  demonstrate  the  value  of  adequate  capital  and  organized  direction 
in  subdividing  and  preparing  agricultural  land  for  settlement,  and  to  provide  homes 
for  farm  laborers. 

To  carry  out  the  objects  herein  stated,  there  is  hereby  created  a  state  land  settle- 
ment board  to  consist  of  five  members  appointed  by  the  governor  to  hold  office  for  a 
term  of  four  years  and  until  their  successors  have  been  appointed  and  shall  have 
qualified ;  provided,  however,  that  of  the  members  first  appointed  two  shall  be 
appointed  to  hold  office  until  the  first  day  in  January,  1918,  one  until  the  first  day  in 
January,  1919,  one  until  the  first  day  in  January,  1920,  and  one  until  the  first  day  in 
January,  1921. 

The  governor  shall  designate  one  of  the  members  as  chairman  of  the  board  and 
director  of  land  settlement.  The  secretary  may  or  may  not  be  a  member  of  the  board. 


—  40  — 

The  board  shall  appoint  such  expert,  technical,  and  clerical  assistance  as  may  prove 
necessary,  and  shall  define  their  duties.  It  shall  fix  the  salaries  of  all  employees,  with 
the  approval  of  the  state  board  of  control. 

The  four  members  of  the  board  shall  receive  a  per  diem  for  each  meeting  attended, 
and  the  chairman  shall  receive  a  salary,  said  per  diem  and  salary  to  be  fixed  by  the 
state  board  of  control  with  the  approval  of  the  governor.  The  members  shall  also 
receive  their  actual  necessary  traveling  expenses  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties. 

The  said  land  settlement  board  shall  have  power  to  co-operate  with  and  to  contract 
with  the  duly  authorized  representatives  of  the  United  States  government  in  carrying 
cut  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

SEC.  2.  Section  four  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows  : 
Sec.  4.  For  the  purposes  of  this  act,  the  board  may  acquire  on  behalf  of  the 
state  by  purchase,  gift  or  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  eminent  domain,  all  lands, 
water  rights  and  other  property  needed  for  the  purposes  hereof,  and  may  take  title  in 
trust  and  shall  without  delay  improve,  subdivide  and  sell  such  land,  water  rights  and 
other  property  with  appurtenances  and  rights  to  approved  bona  fide  settlers ;  the 
board  shall  have  the  authority  to  set  aside  for  townsite  purposes  a  suitable  area 
purchased  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  and  to  subdivide  such  area  and  sell  or 
lease  the  same  for  cash,  in  lots  of  such  size,  and  with  such  restrictions  as  to  resale, 
as  they  shall  deem  best ;  and  provided,  further,  that  the  board  shall  have  authority  to 
set  aside  and  dedicate  to  public  use  such  area  or  areas  as  it  may  deem  desirable  for 
roads,  schoolhouses,  churches,  or  other  public  purposes. 

SEC.  3.  Section  five  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  5.  Whenever  the  board  believes  that  private  land  should  be  purchased  for 
settlement  under  this  act,  it  shall  give  notice  by  publication  in  one  or  more  news- 
papers of  general  circulation  in  this  state,  setting  forth  approximately  the  area  and 
character  of  the  land  desired  and  the  conditions  that  shall  govern  the  proposed  pur- 
chase, and  inviting  owners  of  land  willing  to  enter  into  a  contract  of  sale  on  the 
conditions  proposed  to  submit  such  land  for  inspection. 

SEC.  4.  Section  nine  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  9.  If  from  the  evidence  submitted  or  from  the  results  of  its  personal  inspec- 
tion, the  board  is  satisfied  that  one  or  more  of  the  tracts  submitted  are  suited  to 
intensive,  closer  settlement  and  can  be  acquired  at  a  reasonable  price,  it  shall  submit 
to  the  governor  its  report,  giving  the  reasons  for  recommending  the  purchase,  and  on 
the  approval  of  the  governor  the  board  shall  be  authorized  to  purchase  the  same ; 
provided,  that  before  such  purchase  is  made,  the  attorney  general  shall  approve  the 
title  of  such  lands  and  any  water  rights  appurtenant  thereto,  and  the  state  water 
commission  shall  certify  in  writing  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  any  water  rights  to  be 
conveyed. 

SEC.  5.     Section  ten  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  10.     All  sales  to  settlers  of  land  under  this  act  shall  be  made  under  such 
terms  and  conditions  as  shall  give  to  the  board  full  control  of  any  subdivisions  thereof 
until  all  moneys  advanced  by  the  state  for  the  purchase,  improvement,  or  equipment 
of  such  subdivisions  are  fully  repaid,  together  with  interest  thereon  as  herein  provided. 
SEC.  6.     Section  eleven  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  11.     Immediately  upon  taking  possession  of  any   land  purchased  as  above, 
and  after  deducting  any  areas  to  be  set  aside  for  townsites  or  public  purposes  in 
accordance  with  section  four  of  this  act,  the  board  shall  subdivide  it  into  areas  su't- 
able  for  farms  and  farm  laborer's  allotments,  and  lay  out,  and  where  necessary,  con- 
struct roads,  ditches,  and  drains  for  giving  access  to  and  insuring  the  proper  cultiva- 
tion of  the  several  farms  and  allotments.     The  board,  prior  to  disposing  of  it  to 
settlers,  or  at  any  time  after  such  land  has  been  disposed  of,  but  not  after  the  end  of 
the  fifth  year  from  the  commencement  of  the  term  of  the  settler's  purchase  contract, 
may — 

(a)  Prepare  all  or  any  part  of  such  land  for  irrigation  and  cultivation; 
(6)  Seed,  plant,  or  fence  such  land,  and  cause  dwelling  houses  and  outbuildings  to 
be  erected  on  any  farm  allotment  or  make  any  other  improvements  not  specified  above 
necessary  to  render  the  allotment  habitable  and  productive  in  advance  of  or  after 
settlement,  the  total  cost  to  the  board  of  such  dwellings,  outbuildings,  and  improve- 
ments not  to  exceed  one  thousand  five  hundred  ($1,500)  dollars  on  any  one  farm 
allotment ; 

(c)  Cause  cottages  to  be  erected  on  any  farm  laborer's  allotment  and  provide  a 
domestic  water  supply,  the  combined  cost  to  the  board  of  the  cottage  and  water  supply 
not  to  exceed  eight  hundred  ($800)  dollars  on  any  one  farm  laborer's  allotment; 


—  41  — 

(d)  Make  loans  to  approved  settlers  on  the  security  of  permanent  improvements, 
stock  and  farm  implements,  such  loans  to  be  secured  by  mortgage  or  mortgages,  deed 
or  deeds  of  trust  on  such  permanent  improvements,  stock  or  farm  implements,  and 
the  total  amount  of  any  such  loan,  together  with  money  spent  by  the  board  on 
improvements  as  above  specified,  not  to  exceed  three  thousand  dollars  on  any  one 
farm  allotment,  or  two  thousand  dollars  on  any  one  farm  laborer's  allotment. 

SEC.  7.     Section  fourteen  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

Sec.  14.  Lands  disposed  of  under  this  act,  other  than  lands  set  aside  for  town- 
sites  or  public  purposes,  shall  be  sold  either  as  farm  allotments,  each  of  which  shall 
have  a  value  not  exceeding,  without  improvements,  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  or  as 
farm  laborers'  allotments,  each  of  which  shall  have  a  value  not  exceeding,  without 
improvements,  one  thousand  dollars.  Before  any  part  of  an  area  is  thrown  open  for 
settlement  there  shall  be  public  notice  thereof  once  a  week  for  four  weeks  in  one  or 
more  daily  newspapers  of  general  circulation  in  the  state,  setting  forth  the  number 
and  size  of  farm  allotments  or  farm  laborer's  allotments,  or  both,  the  prices  at  which 
they  are  offered  for  sale,  the  minimum  amount  of  capital  a  settler  will  be  required  to 
have,  the  mode  of  payment,  the  amount  of  cash  payment  required,  and  such  other 
particulars  as  the  board  may  think  proper  and  specifying  a  definite  period  within 
which  applications  therefor  shall  be  filed  with  the  board  on  forms  provided  by  the 
board.  The  board  shall  have  the  right  in  its  uncontrolled  discretion  to  reject  any  or 
all  applications  it  may  see  fit  and  may  readvertise  as  aforesaid  as  often  as  it  sees  fit 
until  it  receives  and  accepts  such  number  of  applications  as  it  may  deem  necessary. 

If  no  applications  satisfactory  to  the  board  are  received  for  any  farm  allotment  or 
farm  laborer's  allotment  following  such  advertising,  the  board  at  any  time  prior  to 
readvertising,  may  sell  any  such  farm  allotment  or  farm  laborer's  allotment  at  the 
prices  at  which  they  were  so  offered  for  sale,  without  the  necessity  of  readvertising. 

The  board  shall  also  have  the  power  in  dealing  with  any  such  farm  allotments  or 
farm  laborer's  allotments  for  which  there  has  been  no  such  application  satisfactory 
to  the  board,  to  subdivide  or  amalgamate  any  one  or  more  of  such  allotments  as  it 
may  see  fit,  and  fix  the  prices  thereon,  provided  that  the  limitations  of  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  for  a  farm  allotment  and  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  farm  laborer's 
allotment,  as  in  this  section  set  forth,  are  not  violated.  Such  subdivision  or  amalga- 
mation may  be  had  without  the  necessity  of  readvertising. 

The  board  may  also  sell  at  public  auction,  under  such  conditions  of  sale  and  notice 
thereof  as  the  board  may  prescribe,  any  areas  which  the  board  may  determine  are  not 
suitable  for  farm  allotments  or  farm  laborer's  allotments,  whether  or  not  included 
in  any  subdivision  into  farm  allotments  or  farm  laborer's  allotments ;  provided,  that 
if  such  area  has  been  included  in  such  a  farm  allotment  or  farm  laborer's  allotment, 
then  such  sale  at  public  auction  can  be  made  only  after  a  failure  to  receive  any  appli- 
cation satisfactory  to  the  board  after  the  advertising  thereof,  as  required  by  the  terms 
of  this  section. 

SEC.  8.     Section  fifteen  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

Sec.  15.  Any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  or  any  person  who  has  declared  his 
intention  of  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who  is  not  the  holder  of 
agricultural  land  or  of  possessory  rights  thereto  to  the  value  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  and  who  by  this  purchase  would  not  become  the  holder  of  agricultural  land 
or  of  possessory  rights  thereto  exceeding  such  value,  and  who  is  prepared  to  enter 
within  six  months  upon  actual  occupation  of  the  land  acquired,  may  apply  for  and 
become  the  purchaser  of  either  a  farm  allotment  or  a  farm  laborer's  allotment ; 
provided,  that  no  more  than  one  farm  allotment  or  more  than  one  farm  laborer's 
allotment  shall  be  sold  to  any  one  person;  provided,  further,  that  no  applicant  shall 
be  approved  who  shall  not  satisfy  the  board  as  to  his  or  her  fitness  successfully  to 
cultivate  and  develop  the  allotment  applied  for. 

The  board  may,  in  offering  for  sale  farm  allotments  or  farm  laborer's  allotments, 
co-operate  or  contract  with  the  duly  authorized  representatives  of  the  United  States 
government  and  other  public  corporations  or  agencies  generally.  The  board  is  hereby 
authorized  to  perform  all  acts  necessary  to  co-operate  fully  with  the  agencies  of  the 
United  States  engaged  in  work  of  similar  character,  and  with  similar  boards  and 
agencies  of  other  states.  In  any  such  sales  made  in  co-operation  with  such  repre- 
sentatives or  agencies  of  the  United  States  government,  preference  must  be  given  to 
soldiers,  sailors,  marines  and  others  who  have  served  with  the  armed  forces  of  the 
United  States  in  the  European  war  or  other  wars  of  the  United  States,  including 
former  American  citizens  who  served  in  allied  armies  against  the  central  powers,  and 
have  been  repatriated,  and  who  have  been  honorably  discharged.  The  board  may 


—  42  — 

likewise,  whether  or  not  acting  in  co-operation  with  the  duly  authorized  representa- 
tives of  the  United  States  government,  give  such  preference  to  any  of  such  citizens 
of  California,  who  as  soldiers,  sailors,  marines  and  others  have  served  with  the  armed 
forces  of  the  United  States,  as  in  this  section  described. 

SEC.  9.  Section  eighteen  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows: 
Sec.  18.  Every  approved  applicant  shall  enter  into  a  contract  of  purchase  with 
the  board,  which  contract  shall  among  other  things  provide  that  the  purchaser  shall 
pay  as  a  cash  deposit  a  sum  equal  to  five  per  cent  of  the  sale  price  of  the  allotment 
and  in  addition  not  less  than  ten  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  any  improvements  made 
thereon,  and  such  applicant  shall,  if  required  by  the  board,  enter  into  an  agreement 
to  apply  for  a  loan  from  the  federal  land  bank  under  provisions  of  the  federal  farm 
loan  act  for  an  amount  to  be  fixed  by  the  board,  and  shall  pay  to  the  board  the 
amount  of  any  loan  so  made  as  a  partial  payment  on  such  land  and  improvements. 
The  balance  due  on  the  land  shall  be  paid  in  amortizing  payments  extending  over  a 
period  to  be  fixed  by  the  board,  not  exceeding  forty  years,  together  with  interest 
thereon  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent  per  annum.  The  amount  due  on  improvements 
shall  be  paid  in  amortizing  payments  extending  over  a  period  to  bo  fixed  by  the  board 
not  exceeding  twenty  years,  together  with  interest  thereon  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent 
per  annum.  The  repayment  of  loans  made  on  live  stock  or  implements  shall  extend 
over  a  period  to  be  fixed  by  the  board  not  exceeding  five  years ;  provided,  however,  in 
each  case,  that  the  settler  shall  have  the  right,  on  any  installment  date,  to  pay  any 
or  all  installments  still  remaining  unpaid. 

SEC.  10.  Section  twenty  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  20.  Every  contract  entered  into  between  the  board  and  an  approved  pur- 
chaser shall  contain  among  other  things  provisions  that  the  purchaser  shall  cultivate 
the  land  in  a  manner  to  be  approved  by  the  board  and  shall  keep  in  good  order  and 
repair  all  buildings,  fences,  and  other  permanent  improvements  situated  on  his  allot- 
ment, reasonable  wear  and  tear  and  damage  by  fire  excepted.  Each  settler  shall,  if 
required,  insure  and  keep  insured  against  fire  all  buildings  on  his  allotment,  the 
policies  therefor  to  be  made  out  in  favor  of  the  board  and  to  be  in  such  amount  or 
amounts  and  in  such  insurance  companies  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  board. 

The  board  shall  have  power  in  its  own  name  to  insure  and  keep  insured  agaiiust 
fire  all  buildings  or  other  improvements  on  any  of  the  lands  under  the  control  of  the 
l>oard,  and  any  contract  of  insurance  heretofore  made  by  the  board  is  hereby  ratified 
arid  confirmed.  The  board  shall  likewise  have  the  power  in  any  contract  of  purchase 
under  which  the  board  purchases  lands  as  authorized  in  this  act,  to  provide  for  the 
return  by  the  board  to  the  owner  so  selling  to  the  state  of  any  insurance  premiums  or 
taxes  which  may  have  been  paid  on  said  property  by  such  owner,  or  for  which  such 
owner  may  have  become  obligated  to  pay,  and  any  such  agreement  or  contract  of 
purchase  heretofore  made  by  the  board  is  hereby  ratified  and  confirmed. 

SEc.  11.  Section  twenty-one  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  21.  No  allotment  sold  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  transferred, 
assigned,  mortgaged,  or  sublet  in  whole  or  in  part,  without  the  consent  of  the  board 
given  in  writing,  until  the  settler  has  paid  for  his  farm  allotment  or  farm  laborer's 
allotment  in  full  and  complied  with  all  of  the  terms  and  conditions  of  his  contract  of 
purchase. 

SEC.  12.  Section  twenty-five  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows: 
Sec.  25.  For  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  act  the  sum  of 
two  hundred  sixty  thousand  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  any  moneys  in  the 
state  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated.  Of  this  amount,  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
fifty  thousand  dollars  shall  constitute  a  revolving  fund  to  be  known  as  the  "land  settle- 
ment fund,"  which  is  calculated  to  be  returned  to  the  state  with  interest  at  the  rate 
of  four  per  cent  per  annum  within  a  period  of  fifty  years  from  the  date  of  the 
passage  of  this  act,  on  the  daily  balances  representing  the  amounts  drawn  out  of 
such  fund  and  thus  depleting  the  fund  to  an  amount  less  than  said  sum  of  two 
hundred  fifty  thousand  dollars,  which  said  daily  balances  shall  be  so  calculated  only 
on  the  amounts  so  drawn  out  of  such  fund,  from  the  date  of  the  passage  of  this  act. 
The  remaining  ten  thousand  dollars  shall  constitute  a  fund  available  for  the  payment 
of  administrative  expenses  alone  until  such  time  as  other  moneys  are  available  for 
such  purpose  from  the  sales  of  land  as  provided  for  in  this  act. 

SBC.  13.     Section  twenty-seven  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 
Sec.  27.    The  money  paid  by  settlers  on  lands,  improvements,  or  in  the  repayment 
of  advances,  shall  be  deposited  in  the  land  settlement  fund  and  be  available  under 
the  same  conditions  as  the  original  appropriation. 


—  43  — 

SEC.  14.     Section  twenty-eight  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

Sec.  28.  The  board  shall  have  authority  to  make  all  needed  rules  and  regulations 
for  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

SEX;.  15.     Section  twenty-nine  of  said  act  is  hereby  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

Sec.  29.  The  board  is  hereby  authorized  to  investigate  land  settlement  conditions 
in  California  and  elsewhere  and  to  submit  recommendations  for  such  legislation  as 
may  be  deemed  by  it  necessary  or  desirable. 

The  board  shall  render  an  annual  report  to  the  governor  and  a  copy  thereof  to  the 
secretary  of  the  interior,  which  report  shall  be  filed  and  printed  as  required  by 
sections  three  hundred  thirty-two,  three  hundred  thirty-three,  three  hundred  thirty- 
four,  three  hundred  thirty-six  and  three  hundred  thirty-seven  of  the  Political  Code, 
with  the  exception  that  they  shall  be  so  filed  and  printed  annually  instead  of  bien- 
nially, as  provided  in  said  sections. 

SEC.  1C.  A  new  section  is  hereby  added  to  said  act,  numbered  twenty-two,  to 
read  as  follows : 

Sec.  22.  In  the  event  of  a  failure  of  a  settler  to  comply  with  any  of  the  terms 
of  his  contract  of  purchase  and  agreement  with  the  board,  the  state  and  the  board 
shall  have  the  right  at  its  option  to  cancel  the  said  contract  of  purchase  and  agree- 
ment and  thereupon  shall  be  released  from  all  obligation  in  law  or  equity  to  convey 
the  property  and  the  settler  shall  forfeit  all  right  thereto  and  all  payments  thereto- 
fore made  shall  be  deemed  to  be  rental  paid  for  occupancy.  The  board  may  require 
of  the  settler  such  mortgage  or  deed  of  trust  or  other  instrument  as  may  be  necessary 
under  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  contract  of  purchase  in  order  to  adequately 
protect  and  secure,  the  board.  There  may  be  included  in  such  contract  of  purchase, 
mortgage,  deed  of  trust  or  other  instrument  any  conditions  with  reference  to  sale  of 
the  property  or  reconveyance  back  to  the  board  or  notice  of  such  sale  or  reconvey- 
ance as  may  in  the  discretion  of  the  board  be  required  to  be  so  included  in  such 
contract  of  purchase,  mortgage,  deed  of  trust  or  other  instrument,  in  order  to  so 
adequately  protect  the  said  board  in  the  premises ;  and  any  such  contracts  of  purchase, 
mortgages,  deeds  of  trust  or  other  instruments  heretofore  executed  are  hereby  con- 
firmed. The  failure  of  the  board  or  of  the  state  to  exercise  any  option  to  cancel,  or 
other  privilege  under  the  contract  of  purchase  for  any  default  shall  not  be  deemed  as 
a  waiver  of  the  right  to  exercise  the  option  to  cancel  or  other  privilege  under  the 
contract  of  purchase  for  any  default  thereafter  on  the  settler's  part.  But  no  for- 
feiture so  occasioned  by  default  on  the  part  of  the  settler  shall  be  deemed  in  any  way, 
or  to  any  extent,  to  impair  the  lien  and  security  of  the  mortgage  or  trust  instrument 
securing  any  loan  that  it  may  have  made  as  in  this  act  provided.  The  board  shall 
have  the  right  and  power  to  enter  into  a  contract  of  purchase  for  the  sale  and  dispo- 
sition of  any  land  forfeited  as  above  provided,  because  of  default  on  the  part  of  a 
settler,  and  this  right  may  be  exercised  indefinitely  without  the  necessity  of  advertising. 

SEC.  17.  For  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  this  act  and  of  the  act 
amended  by  this  act,  the  sum  of  one  million  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated  out  of  any 
moneys  in  the  state  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  which  sum  of  one  million 
dollars  is  calculated  to  be  returned  to  the  state  within  a  period  of  fifty  years  from  the 
date  of  this  appropriation  of  one  million  dollars  going  into  effect,  with  interest  at  the 
rate  of  four  per  cent  per  annum  on  the  daily  balances  representing  the  amounts  drawn 
out  of  such  appropriation,  and  thus  depleting  the  appropriation  to  an  amount  less  than 
said  sum  of  one  million  dollars.  The  state  controller  is  hereby  authorized  and 
directed  to  draw  warants  upon  such  funds  from  time  to  time  upon  requisition  of  the 
board  approved  by  the  state  board  of  control,  and  the  state  treasurer  is  hereby 
authorized  and  directed  to  pay  such  warrants. 


46390    7-19    5M 


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